


IKASAILI: I Kissed A Stranger and I Liked It

by RedBlackBeauty



Category: Big Bang (Band), GTOP (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-25
Updated: 2015-11-05
Packaged: 2018-04-06 01:54:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 25,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4203507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedBlackBeauty/pseuds/RedBlackBeauty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seunghyun agreed to help his roommate with his course project. Little did he know that it would change the course of his life.</p><p>A/N: Originally published on AFF on October 28, 2014 and completed on November 4, 2015.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Helping Zen

“Seunghyun, come on. Help me with this. I just need one more guy.”

Seunghyun dropped the book in his hands onto his chest and looked over at his roommate. “No freaking way. There are tons of other dudes in this campus. Go ask them.” He pulled the book back up.

“Of course I have,” the roommate let out an exasperated sigh, “but the ones who responded are either nerds who wouldn’t even get kissed at a fair’s kissing booth or perverts who expected second base out of this. And they are not so easy on the eyes either.”

Seunghyun chuckled. “Why does it matter? You just need to film strangers kissing each other not a commercial for Abercrombie or something.”

“Of course it matters. The subject is already provocative as it is. I should at least make it presentable. The last thing I want is my professor to get grossed out by it.”

Seunghyun ignored the plea, attention still on the book in his hands.

“Seunghyun-“

“Zen!” Seunghyun glared over his book again. “No! I’m not doing it.”

“Dude, help me out. I have one week, one week, to finish this and then I’m done for this semester.”

“Find someone else.” Seunghyun shook his head, still nonchalantly ignoring his roommate, flipping the pages of the book.

“Look, I’ve never asked for your help before, well except for that hook up with your boyfriend’s course mate-”

“EX-boyfriend.” Seunghyun corrected.

“Yes, your ex-boyfriend’s course mate whom I’m really grateful for, but I really need your help this time.” Zen stood up from his chair and approached Seunghyun’s bed, where the guy was lying and pulled the book down.

Seunghyun rolled his eyes, looking up at his roommate.

“Please..” Zen pulled a fake pout and bats his lashes over a pair of puppy eyes.

Seunghyun groaned in defeat, propping himself up against the headboard. “Zen, look, you’re my best friend, I’d love to help you with anything.” He rolled his eyes again when Zen beamed him with a smile. “But this is not one those things. It sounds uncomfortable. When I was with Jin, it took us like a month to get to know each other before we finally had our first kiss. What makes you think that I would just agree to kiss a stranger?”

“Well, one, this is not a matchmaking project. I’m not trying to hook you up with anybody. Just show up, kiss and then leave. No strings attached. And two, you are currently not in a relationship; no one’s gonna care if you kiss anybody.”

Seunghyun chuckled. “That’s more like a reason why I shouldn’t do it; I just broke up.”

Zen hit Seunghyun on the side of his arm, earning a groan. “That is a valid reason to do it. You’re single for God’s sakes. And you didn't just broke up; it’s been what, two, three months? It’s time to put yourself back in the market again. Go out, do something crazy, like…I don’t know, like…kissing a stranger.”

Somehow Seunghyun let out a laugh, running his hands through his hair. “I don’t kn- I can’t. No, Zen, I can’t.”

“Why the hell not? Just do it for fun.” Zen folded one of his legs onto the bed, turning towards Seunghyun. “Or as charity, for me, for my assignment.”

Seunghyun knew he was about to lose this. Zen just needed to plead one more time to pull a ‘yes’ or an ‘okay’ out of him. They had been roommates for almost three years now; been through all the ups and downs as students on a foreign land away from home. Zen was one of the things that Seunghyun was grateful for, not just for being his floating device in surviving campus, but for life. Zen was the kind of friend that you would call a brother, a family, your own kind. Seunghyun remembered holding his breath for the longest time when he first came out to Zen only to have his roommate shrugged his shoulders. It surprised Seunghyun that Zen didn’t get awkward with him afterwards and assured him that “I know you better than to judge you if you’d prefer dicks than vaginas. We didn’t become friends based on that.”

So when Zen asked him again, Seunghyun let out another groan, rubbing his face with his palms. “Fine! Fine! Fine! I’ll do it.”

“YES! You’re the best!” Zen yelped, clasping his hands together, mimicking a girly expression and lunged himself to hug Seunghyun around his neck.

“You’re choking me! Get off!” Seunghyun peeled Zen off, half laughing at his roommate being an idiot. “Stop forcing yourself on me; you’re not my type.”

Zen faked a pout.

“Don’t make me change my mind.” Seunghyun warned, throwing Zen into a fit of laughter.

“Okay, okay,” Zen surrendered with his hands raised above his head. “Tomorrow, three o’clock, the Art Building, second floor, room 2-3B. Wear anything that you feel comfortable in.”

“Wait. Tomorrow?? What if I had said no?”

“I know you would say yes.” Zen grinned and winked before getting off the bed and walked backwards back to his desk. He clicked his tongue, shooting Seunghyun with his finger guns. “Tomorrow. I’ll pair you with a cute one, I promise.”

 

***********


	2. Tomorrow

 

_**Tomorrow, 2:45 PM.** _   
_**The Art Building, Second Floor.** _

Seunghyun sat nervously at a bench across from the door to room 2-3B; armed crossed, watching people passing by the hallway, wondering if he was gonna be kissing one of them. There were two other guys and three girls standing nearby, waiting. He figured they must be the participants too.

He chose to wear his favorite pair of black jeans, a white t-shirt underneath a red and black checkered shirt, left unbuttoned, sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Zen said to wear something comfortable, so this was comfortable for him. He actually had spent a good half an hour picking out what to wear when he finally felt like he was getting ready for a date. He chuckled, shook his head and just pulled out whatever he would usually wear every day, slicked his fingers with a few drops of hair gel and combed them through his dark hair, leaving them tangled in a sexy mop, and walked out.

One of the guys took the seat next to him and introduced himself as Will. Short for William. _Oh, great. I thought it was short for Willy Wonka from the weird vibe you’re oozing._

“You’re here for the ‘Kiss a Stranger’ project?” Will asked.

“Yeah,” Seunghyun nodded, “I’m helping my friend.” He smiled and hoped Will would leave him alone as that guy started to eye him head to toe. If Zen didn't come out that door and start the thing in the next minute, he swore he was gonna leave.

He fished out his phone from his pocket, flashing an awkward half-smile towards Will, and was about to text Zen when the door opened to his roommate’s beaming smile.

“Okay, we’re ready. Let’s get inside!” Zen beckoned the six people into the room. “Take a seat. Take a seat.”

“What took you so long?” Seunghyun muttered as he passed by his roommate.

“A little eager for a kiss, are we?” Zen chuckled, patting Seunghyun’s back teasingly.

“No. That guy is already eyeing me like a pedo. Please tell me he’s not my partner.”

Zen laughed. “What? Of course not. I’ve promised you someone cute, haven’t I? Just wait and see.” Zen grinned, leaving Seunghyun in confusion and a little anticipation, and walked up to the front of the room.

"Thank you, everyone, for volunteering in this project. We, my team and I, really appreciate your time for being here. This is for our Psychology of Human Sexuality course project, studying human interactions based on sexuality; straight and gays. Of course we could just film two people meeting for the first time, conversing with each other about whatever. But that’s boring. So we decided to push it a little closer to the edge and make it more interesting by experimenting with strangers kissing each other for the first time.”

The whole room was paying their attention to Zen.

"So," Zen clasped both his hands, "what we're gonna do today, as we all know, is to kiss a stranger. We're gonna pair you up and film your encounters."

Seunghyun noticed from the corner of his eyes, Will chanced a glance at him, smiling like a pervert.

"We're taking the 'stranger' thing quite seriously, though.” Zen continued. “That's why your partners are in the other room," Zen threw a playful wink, "which means you are not gonna kiss anyone in this room and you wouldn't get to meet your partner until you are finally in front of the camera. We want to capture the raw and genuine reaction when you first meet your partner."

Seunghyun let out a relieved sigh. So there was no way that he would get paired up with Will. He shuddered at the thought of what could happen.

“Later, we’re gonna draw lots to determine your turns. But before that, do you have any question?”

One of the other guys raised his hand. “Are we allowed to talk to them? Like ask them questions? Ask for their names? Or do we just kiss them?”

“There are no rules, really. You can talk to them, ask them whatever you want. It’s up to them whether to indulge you with the answer or not. Just start a conversation, break the ice enough to make it less awkward.”

“What if things got heated up?” The room filled with nervous and awkward laughs at the question.

“Well,” Zen ran his hand through his hair, “we’re aiming for just a kiss, but you and your partner are welcome to take it somewhere else if you feel the need to.” The whole room roared with laughter.

“Not that I mind, but are we gonna get a partner of the opposite sex or..?” One of the girls asked.

“There is a possibility of you getting a partner of the same sex, because we’re gonna draw lots so it’s random. That’s why we asked if you would mind kissing a partner of the same sex in the form.”

Seunghyun frowned. _Form? What form? There’s a form?_

Another girl raised her hand. “How are you filming this?”

“The filming will be in the room across the hall. There will be a camera, my team members, Jenna and Dean, and myself. We will be very much present in the room while you guys kiss each other out, but we will be as invisible as possible as to not interrupt your moment. You wouldn’t even notice that we're there.”

The participants seemed satisfied with the explanation and no one seemed to have any more questions.

“Any more questions?” Zen asked anyway, to be sure. When the participants shook their heads in unison, he continued. "Okay, so now we're gonna draw lots. Your partners have already done that earlier. So whatever number you draw, we're gonna pair you up with the person who got the same number. Pretty simple, right? So okay, let's come up here, one at a time and draw your number."

The participants took turn to draw their lots and Seunghyun was the last one. Zen leaned forward when Seunghyun approached.

“I’ve saved this number for you. He’s a catch.” Zen winked, holding out a piece of folded paper in between his index and middle finger.

“Don’t be a cupid, Zen. I’ll be the judge of that.” He snatched the paper, turned around and walked back to his seat, ignoring his roommate chuckling. He let out a sigh as he lowered himself back into the chair, unfolding the paper to see when would be his turn.

“Alright, if you’re all ready, let’s start with participant number 1.” Zen flashed a smile.

Seunghyun froze and muttered under his breath. “Well, fuck me.”

“Let’s go, my friend!” Zen called out with a mischievous grin.

  
  
***********

 


	3. The Stranger

 

Seunghyun rose from his chair, glaring at his roommate's stupid grinning face.

"The first one? Really?" Seunghyun huffed when he reached Zen who wrapped an arm around his shoulders, leading them out to the filming room.

Zen just shrugged. "Not my fault. Your partner picked the number," he poked a finger on Seunghyun's chest, "I'm just helping you out."

"Yeah, right."

"Look," Zen stopped in his steps, causing Seunghyun to stop too, "he's a great guy and he's really your type; he's smart, he's funny, he's-"

"I thought you weren't trying to hook me up with someone through this?" Seunghyun cocked an eyebrow.

"Seunghyun. Dude. Come on. You know I love you. I wouldn't do this if I think it's not good for you. I'm done watching you moping over Jin. He's not coming back. We  _both_ know he's not coming back. Time to move on, brother."

"I-" Seunghyun sighed, "I don't think I'm ready. I can't. Not now, Zen."

"No way. I'm not taking that bullshit anymore. All you do all day is go to class, eat, mope. Go to class, eat, mope. Go to class, eat-"

"Okay! Okay! Okay! I get it."

"Seunghyun, look, just give this a chance okay? Just kiss this stranger's face off and if you don't like him after that, which is less likely 'cause I know you  _will_  like him, you guys can go on your separate ways. I'd be okay with it 'cause at least I know I tried."

Seunghyun chuckled then, shaking his head.

“Here, let me take a look,” Zen turned Seunghyun by his shoulders to face him, fixed the collar of his shirt, turned his face side to side. "We need to make sure you look your best."

Seunghyun swatted his hands away. “Stop it!”

But Zen reached up for his hair, trying to ruffle it a bit, only to be caught and swatted away by Seunghyun again.

“Zen, stop it! I said stop it!”

“Okay! Okay! I just wanna make sure you look good.”

“Shut up. Let’s get this over with. I’m here to help you. Nothing more.”

The silly grin on Zen's face returned. "Well, I think he could change your mind." He wiggled his eyebrows as he reached for the knob and swung the door open, leaving no space for Seunghyun to retort as Jenna and Dean greeted them.

"This is my roommate; Seunghyun." Zen introduced him to his team members and they exchanged handshakes and greetings.

Contrasted with what he had said earlier, Seunghyun was actually kinda anticipating to meet the stranger. A little excited even and he was not quite sure why. Maybe because it was Zen’s eagerness that somehow made him believe that this stranger was worth knowing, worth  _kissing_. But apart from Jenna and Dean, Seunghyun didn’t see anyone else in the room. He chanced a subtle glance around him; nope, there was no one else.

“Looking for him?” Zen teased and Seunghyun was caught red-faced. He could feel his cheeks warmed all over as he opened his mouth trying to defend himself but Zen chuckled, and pulled him to stand in front of the camera, right over a T mark on the floor. “Stand here. I’ll go get him now.” Zen patted his back before leaving him standing there awkwardly.

Seunghyun felt his heart skipped a few beats; he unconsciously ran his hand through his hair, taming a few strands back into the tousled mess, pulling his sleeves down to then pulling them back up, swaying on the balls of his feet, with his mind conjuring stuff to say to start a conversation with the stranger.

He stopped and froze when he heard the door opened and two figures walk in, animatedly talking to each other. Seunghyun locked his eyes on the floor as he recognized one of the voices and ruled it out as Zen’s.

But the other one.

The way the words sounded as they rolled off his tongue and the melodious tone of his laugh. Unfamiliar. But captivating. Seunghyun braced himself to glance up and put a face to that voice.

_Holy fuck!_

Seunghyun cursed in his head because his own voice was caught in a huge lump in his throat. His eyes shamelessly locked on the stranger, following his steps as they made their way approaching him. Seunghyun swallowed down his dry throat when he was finally face to face with the stranger, totally ignoring Zen on his side, completely entranced by the shy smile across the stranger’s face.

He was petite compared to Seunghyun’s tall and sturdy build. Prominent but delicate facial features; strong jaw line framing his diamond-shaped face with a pointed chin. Plump, pouty lips, slightly wet and pink from being bitten down. Seunghyun figured it was the stranger's way of hiding his shyness. Dangerously alluring. Button nose perfectly bridging his gorgeous,  _gorgeous_ , brown eyes that were looking straight back into Seunghyun’s. Seunghyun guessed his partner was not that shy after all. Well maybe just a little bit, judging from the tinge of pink on the high of his supple cheeks. Simply beautiful. 

 _Who are you? I don’t remember ever seeing you around here. I would’ve remembered if I did._  Seunghyun asked himself. His voice was still trapped in his throat.

Zen cleared his throat, lightly nudging his frozen roommate. “So, this is your partner.” He announced in almost a whisper, glancing at the two participants back and forth. “I’m gonna leave you two here to familiarize with each other.” He squeezed Seunghyun’s arm and stepped away.

The pair looked away from each other, laughing nervously. It was awkward. Seunghyun didn’t know what to say. Everything he came up with earlier escaped in a poof the moment he laid his eyes on his partner, leaving him feeling dumb. Seunghyun didn’t know what to do either; should he introduce himself? Should he wait for him to start first? Or should he just lunge in and claim those lips? Hell, he didn’t even know what to do with his hands. So he shoved them into his jeans pockets, pulling himself back together to look back. The nameless stranger is still giggling, muffling the sound with the back of his hand. Seunghyun shuddered at the thrill sent down his spine at the sight before him.

_Ah, fuck it._

“H-Hi, I’m- I’m Seunghyun.” He pulled out one of his shaky hands and extended it to the stranger. Hopefully the shake wouldn’t get noticed.

A shy glance and a nod, softly giggling, the stranger shook Seunghyun’s hand. “I’m Jiyong.”

 

***********

 


	4. The Kiss

 

Seunghyun couldn't take his eyes off of Jiyong. The way he laughed and hid half of his face with the back of his hand, the glassy sparkle in his eyes when his face scrunched up, the slender frame from head to toe. Seunghyun felt the urge to circle his arms around the slim waist and make it his and he couldn't help but wondered what would it feels like to hold him close, pressed against each other. That's why he still kept his hands in his pockets before they decide to act on their own.

Jiyong cleared his throat when he noticed Seunghyun was kinda spaced out.

He blinked out of his stupor. "I'm sorry! I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to stare. It's just.." he stared yet again, "It's just that I...um...I thought you were a girl because of the-"

"-The pink hair?" Jiyong chuckled, combing his hair with his fingers as Zen, who was sitting on the side watching the whole exchange, facepalmed himself. "Don't worry about it. I don't mind. I get that a lot." He beamed Seunghyun with another smile.

"Oh.." Seunghyun felt like disappearing from the face of the Earth, mentally hitting his own head. _Why am I being awkward?_ "But I'm still sorry, it's rude to stare.." _I should stop talking._

Jiyong shrugged, the smile was still visible. Effortlessly. "Well I'm yours for today so just...stare away."

_Why? Why did he say that? Why does he have to say that? And look at him being all shy now after saying something so slutty._

Jiyong had his hands behind his back, swaying back and forth on the balls his feet, hiding his reddened face by looking up at the ceiling; lips pursed containing the bubble of chuckles in his throat.

Seunghyun ran a nervous hand through his hair, glancing at his partner. "So," he started, catching Jiyong's attention, "how are we gonna do this?" Unconsciously, he took a step forward, closer to Jiyong who mirrored the action. Seunghyun almost took a step back when, in his new spot, his nose caught Jiyong's alluring scent. It was sweet but not fruity, it was musky but not earthy. It was different.

"Should I- um..should I-" Seunghyun struggled to find the words to say, to ask. "Are we rolling? Is the camera rolling?" He turned and asked the team instead.

"Yup. Right from the moment Jiyong came in." Jenna gestured at the blinking red light on her camera.

"Right." Seunghyun nodded and turned back to Jiyong. He was much closer. _Did he take another step?_

"Do you wanna maybe hug it out? Make it less awkward, perhaps?" Jiyong suggested but looking unsure himself.

"Huh?" Seunghyun swallowed down his dry throat. "Yeah, sure. That'll work. I guess." So he leaned forward, embracing Jiyong; small waist, pink hair and all. And he fought with himself not to sniff at Jiyong's neck.

It was a brief hug; a hardly one-second hug, but Jiyong's heat lingered along Seunghyun's body and limbs, making him shudder again. Jiyong's scent invaded Seunghyun's senses and permanently registered itself in his head.

As they peeled away, reluctantly on Seunghyun's part, their hands fell to their sides together and somehow, they were caught onto each other. The pair was surprised but neither pulled their hands away as they looked down at their tangled fingers; both smiling shyly, laughing nervously.

Seunghyun pulled the courage to search for Jiyong's gaze and held it when their eyes locked. He felt his whole body melted at how Jiyong was looking back; shy but head-on. His heart was already beating like crazy and he was pretty sure Jiyong's was too; from the way Jiyong kept heaving nervous breaths every now and then.

Seunghyun cleared his throat, swallowing the lump. "Do we- um... Wait. Aren't you nervous?"

Jiyong chuckled, looking away from Seunghyun. "I am. Yes, a little bit." He looked back at Seunghyun.

"Huh... You sure hide it well. I'm a mess right here."

Jiyong laughed, bringing up his hand that was wrapped in Seunghyun's up to cover his mouth. "You're doing fine."

Seunghyun breathed in deeply and let it out. "Okay. Let's do this." Jiyong nodded along. But Seunghyun just couldn't shut up. "Do you wanna start with light kisses or just..."

Jiyong blushed, muttering under his breath. "Yeah, sure. We can start with the light ones, and then we'll see how it goes."

"Do you- do you wanna lead?"

Jiyong bit down his lip, shaking his head, glancing up at Seunhyun through his lashes. "You can lead. I don't mind." Seunghyun felt a light squeeze in his hands and he unconsciously squeezed back.

"Okay then," Seunghyun took in another long breath, squeezing the small hands in his; firmer this time. "Hold still.."

Jiyong laughed. "I'm not going anywhere."

He's not sure what's gotten into him to do it, but Seunghyun brought their tangled hands up to his chest while he hesitantly leans forward. His gaze dropped from Jiyong's eyes to his lips, watching them twitch at the corners in anticipation. He could feel Jiyong's unsteady breath against his cheek as he draws closer. He presses their foreheads together, nudging Jiyong's nose with his before tilting his head a little bit to brush a kiss on Jiyong's cheek.

And then carefully, Seunghyun pressed his lips at the corner of Jiyong's mouth, relishing the soft sound of Jiyong inhaling at the first contact. He could tell that Jiyong's eyes fluttered from the feeling of his eyelashes rapidly brushing against his cheek.

Jiyong leaned in, tilting his head to meet Seunghyun's lips full on. Seunghyun pulled away for just a fraction before pressing his lips against Jiyong's lower one. He waited for Jiyong's reaction before enveloping it fully, sucking on it languidly.

Jiyong sighed, curling his fingers tighter around Seunghyun's grasps, returning the fervor; kissing back just as eager.

Seunghyun freed his hands and they move on their own to cup along Jiyong's jaw lines, letting his thumbs lightly brushing against the high of Jiyong's cheeks.

Not knowing if it was okay to wrap his hands around Seunghyun or not, Jiyong just held onto to his loose red and black checkered shirt instead, balling his fists around the fabric.

Jiyong tasted exquisite. Unique. Nothing like Seunghyun had ever been indulged with before. It was intoxicating. But Seunghyun was willing to drown. He wanted more.

One of his hands made its way around Jiyong, all the way to the dimples of his back and pulled him closer. Seunghyun shuddered when Jiyong let out a low whimper, surprised at Seunghyun's sudden forwardness. Seunghyun deepened the kiss, taking Jiyong's every breath with every suck and lick. They have crossed the awkward line but were still hesitant to offer more and to take more until Jiyong had enough of holding back.

His hands traveled upwards, flattened against Seunghyun's chest, sliding up his shoulders, along his neck, until they were finally buried among Seunghyun's tousled hair. When Seunghyun gasped at Jiyong's tug on his hair, it was an opportunity for Jiyong. He slipped his tongue into Seunghyun's mouth, made it a point to caress Seunghyun's on its way out. He wanted to wait before trying again but too late.

Seunghyun lowered himself slightly and let Jiyong wrap his arms around his neck before he lunged back in. Jiyong whimpered again because now Seunghyun was not holding back either; he was claiming Jiyong’s lips for everything it’s worth. He nibbled them. He licked them. He sucked them. He claimed them. And the way Jiyong submitred to his demands was spurring him on.

They were lost in their own world, bewitched by their own spell, completely ignoring the three other people in the room. This was their ‘7 Minutes in Heaven’ and they were making it count.

When they pulled away, both were breathless; heaving chests, heavy breaths. Jiyong was practically draping over Seunghyun, standing on his toes to meet Seunghyun’s height.

“You’re really something..” Seunghyun breathed out, ghosting over his partner’s lips.

Jiyong licked and bit on the lower one, hiding a shy smile. “You’re not too bad yourself.”

After a few moments of comfortable silence, Zen had to burst their bubble by clearing his throat. The charmed couple turned in unison and awkwardly untangled themselves from each other.

“Yeah..um..” Zen motioned to the clipboard in his hands, “if you don’t mind, we would like to continue with the next couple?”

“Right,” Jiyong ran a hand through his hair, feeling all the awkwardness and nervousness returned in a big wave. And Seunghyun’s eyes were still locked on him. “I..um..it was nice meeting you.” He extended his hand to Seunghyun, looking back at him.

“Pleasure’s all mine.” And before he could stop himself, Seunghyun leaned in and branded Jiyong with a kiss on the cheek. _What was that?_

Jiyong seemed taken aback but welcomed the gesture. He huffed another smile before stepping back. “I’m just..um.. I’m gonna go.” He motioned a thumb towards the door. “I guess I’ll… I’ll see you around?” He let go of Seunghyun’s hands and then turned around.

“Yeah..” was all Seunghyun could breathe out. He was actually still confused. Everything seemed to be happening so fast and he was still trying to process their encounter into place but Jiyong was already leaving?

_Wait._

But Jiyong was already out the door.

 

***********

 


	5. Finding Jiyong

 

It’s been three days. Three days of moping, three days of whining, three days of lying-in-bed-looking-up-at-the-ceiling-with-a-hand-on-my-forehead for Seunghyun. It has been three days since the kiss he shared with Jiyong. He blamed himself over and over again for not reacting quicker. He should have not let Jiyong go that day. He should’ve asked for Jiyong’s number, email or whatever. But he had nothing; nothing except for the pink-haired beauty’s name - Jiyong. Not even a last name.

He was frustrated that Jiyong was nowhere to be seen when he went after him that day. He was sure that he wasn’t dreaming, but how did Jiyong disappear so quickly? The hallway was empty when he stepped out except for a couple of students walking down towards the staircase at the other end of the corridor. He dashed to the nearest stairwell and looked up and down to see if Jiyong had used the stairs to escape but to no avail.  _How did he disappear so quickly?_

He went back to the filming room and told Zen that he’s going back to their room if he’s not needed on the set anymore. When Zen nodded and gave him a thumbs-up, he let out a heavy sigh and left. On the way back to the dorm, he kept his eyes open; they were on stealth mode scanning for Jiyong. But long before he knew, he was already in front of his door. So he mindlessly pulled out his keys, unlocked the door, and threw himself on his bed as soon as his knees knocked the edge of the bed.  _Jiyong was just a dream._

 

However, the next day, Seunghyun was determined to make finding Jiyong his life mission. Walking to classes, Seunghyun let his eyes roam his surroundings, keeping them alert at any flash of pink. He paid more attention to the faces in his classes now; Jiyong could possibly be one of his classmates but he was too oblivious to care or to notice before.

 _But how could anyone miss the pink hair? It’s not possible. Or could it be that the pink hair is new? Arghhhh..I’m going crazy!_  Seunghyun groaned in his head.

He had also tried searching for Jiyong in the campus online directory. It turned out that there were about ten Jiyongs in the campus and Seunghyun, with the sanity that he had left, thought that it was ridiculous to email each one of them asking if they were his ‘Cinderella’. There was one ‘Jiyong’ in the directory that matched his assumption; same faculty as Zen. He even had composed a short email to send to him.

 

_Hi Jiyong,  
I’m Seunghyun from the ‘Kissing the Stranger Project’. Remember-_

/DELETE

 

_Hi Jiyong,  
I’m the stranger you met-_

/DELETE

 

_Hi Jiyong,  
You probably don’t remember me, but-_

/DELETE

/SMASH KEYBOARD

 

_Hi Jiyong,  
It’s Seunghyun. :)_

He let the cursor blinked several times.

 

/DELETE SMILEY FACE

 

_Hi Jiyong,  
It’s Seunghyun._

 

He was ready to hit send when the tiny voices inside his head started to discourage him.  _What if it’s not the Jiyong you were looking for? Wouldn’t you be embarrassed? What if it is Jiyong but he wouldn’t reply? Wouldn’t that be a rejection? Aren’t you scared of rejection?_

“Arghhh..shut up!” Seunghyun groaned and deleted the whole thing along with the draft.

There was one obvious option, though; one very obvious, easy to access, option - Zen. Seunghyun was sure that Zen had a way of contacting Jiyong. They looked like they were close friends at the filming set.  _They should know each other, right?_

But Seunghyun felt his stomach churn from anxiety every time he gathered enough courage to ask Zen about Jiyong. Apart from that, he felt somewhat embarrassed. Maybe because he was very stern about the kiss being a favor for Zen and nothing more before he actually met Jiyong. Maybe because he thought his roommate’s idea of matchmaking him with a stranger was ridiculous. Maybe he was embarrassed to let Zen know that Jiyong had got him on a string and he couldn’t make himself do anything until he could find a way to contact Jiyong.

“Seunghyun,” Zen called him from his desk, but he was too immersed in his thought he recognized it as white noise. “Hey, Choi!” And that snapped him out of his head.

“What?’ He looked over with a confused frown.

“The video is done, wanna have a look?” Zen offered, gesturing to his computer.

“Video? What video?” His frown deepened.

“The  _kissing_ video,” Zen rolled his eyes. “It’s done, we’re gonna submit it tomorrow. Do you wanna have a look?”

Seunghyun felt his heart flipped and he pursed his lips to stop the stupid grin that was starting to creep up his face and bounced over to Zen’s desk, a pillow closely embraced in his arms.  _I get to see Jiyong again._

“Why is it in black and white?” Seunghyun complained as soon as the video started playing.  _I wanna see the pink hair again._

“You really don’t know anything about the art of photography, do you?”

“Faculty of Engineering,” Seunghyun thumped the logo on his shirt. “Represent,” he held a smug on his face and a stupid gang sign with his fingers.

Zen groaned and hit the pause button. He had explained this so many times before but his roommate was obviously too dumb to care. “It’s in black and white so that it wouldn’t distract the viewers from the main focus of this project, which is the human interactions, with other factors and features; like colors. Because human brains couldn’t stop processing details either consciously or otherwise. So the monochrome will narrow down the information received and allows our brain to process the emotion depicted in pictures and videos with minimum distractions. Why do you think classic romantic movies are such tearjerkers?”

“Ahhhhh..” Seunghyun mouth gapped as he nodded like it was a new revelation.

Zen rolled his eyes and hit the play button. “Now watch.”

The video started with a short credit and introduction, alternated with short snippets. A soft music started playing as soon as the first couple appeared on screen; it was him and Jiyong. He felt his cheeks getting warmer so he hid half of his face into the pillow that he was hugging. He could vividly recall all the tingly feelings and all the butterflies in his stomach that he felt that day. Even the soft hums and little gasps and sighs that Jiyong let out that deafened his ears; and how overwhelming it was to be surrounded by Jiyong’s scent; and how the possessive streak in him had made itself prominent from having his arm curled around Jiyong’s waist; and above all, the taste of Jiyong on his lips, on his tongue.

“So,” Zen clicked here and there on his computer before continuing with his question, “what do you think?” He turned to face his roommate.

Seunghyun blinked. He was lost in his head that he didn’t notice the video was over. “Umm..” he paused.  _What is he expecting me to say?_  “I like the background song. Who was it?”

“You like the background song?”

“Yeah, it was kinda...refreshing.”  _What the hell am I saying? It doesn’t make sense?_

 _“You like the background song?”_  Zen repeated his question, sounded a little bit aggravated.

“Yeah, I do.” Seunghyun retorted back, trying to sound affirmative.  _Why am I being defensive?_

“So you have nothing to say about your kiss with Jiyong?”

Seunghyun stiffened.  _Yeah, I’m freaking glad I got to see his face again. And thanks for reminding me of that kiss again. Very convenient._

“Dude, all you gotta do is ask.” Zen stated all of a sudden, way astray from the main subject.

Zen continued when Seunghyun just glared at him. “I know you’ve been itching to ask me. You think I didn’t notice you being restless for the past few days? Did you even shower?” Seunghyun shoved his roommate away when the guy leaned in to sniff at him.

“Ask you what?” Seunghyun asked although he knew well what Zen meant by the question.

“For Jiyong’s number. Or email.” Zen pointed towards his phone. “It’s right here, just a few taps away. I could give you right now if you would ask me.”

Seunghyun glare faltered. He sighed and reached over to his bed and grabbed his phone. He buried his face into the pillow before handing his phone over to Zen who squealed as he takes the phone out of Seunghyun’s hand.

After a while, Seunghyun felt Zen put the phone back into his hand which has been hanging all this time. “There you go.”

He looked up at his roommate; half of his face still buried in the pillow and mumbled a thank you. He retreated to his bed quickly, but of course not before Zen welcomed him in a ceremonious tone like a circus ringmaster.

 

Seunghyun was at that phase again; type and delete, type and delete, type and delete, that he didn’t notice Zen has become anxious and couldn’t help from being nosy. He peeked over at Seunghyun’s phone from behind, when Seunghyun was preoccupied with the task at hand.

“JUST SEND IT ALREADY, DUDE!” Zen shrieked as he was getting impatient watching Seunghyun being self-conscious over the text he was about to send to Jiyong.

Startled by the jump, Seunghyun dropped his phone and he scrambled about to pick it back up. He looked at the screen and gasped.

“Zen, what the hell?! I hit send when I dropped my phone!”

Zen smirked and walked passed Seunghyun’s bed. “Huh. Had I known, I would’ve startled you earlier than just now.”

“UGHHHH!” Seunghyun groaned and smothered his face with his pillow. But he jostled up after a few moments. “Zen, what if he’s not interested? What if he’s not even gay? What if it was  _just_  a kiss to him?”

“Do you think I would not consider that before introducing him to you?” Zen smirked. “What did you say to him?”

Seunghyun scrubbed his face. “I just-” he let out a sigh. “I just said  _‘Hey, it’s Seunghyun’_  and I offered to take him to dinner some time.” Clearly he was paraphrasing.

“Ew, you’re corny it’s so gross.”

Seunghyun hung his head and let out a resigned sigh. He was seriously going crazy. But it was mere minutes when a reply came in.

 

_Hey Seunghyun :) Of course I remember you; how could I forget? I’d love to take up on your offer, but I’ll be away the whole week next week (family getaway to Bali for a cousin’s wedding); a week with family, gotta love that lol. I’m leaving tomorrow and will be back next Sunday. I’ll make sure that you would be the first to know when I get back. Looking forward to the dinner date. Till then.- Jiyong_

 

If previously he thought ‘cloud nine’ was just an unexplainable, ridiculously sappy term romantic people came up with that doesn’t make sense, Seunghyun was ready to fight anyone who thought the same way about it now. Because he sure felt like floating from the warmth that spread from his heart, almost bursting at the seams. And he was sure he could light up a lighthouse with the smile on his face at this moment. He was so happy that he could die right now.

_Date. Jiyong said it’s a date._

 

***********

 


	6. Back from Bali

 

“Seunghyun.”

_Hmm..this feels like a dream._

“Seunghyun!”

_It sounds like a dream. There’s even music. It’s definitely a dream._

“Seunghyun!”

_But what is this voice disturbing my peaceful and blissful-_

Seunghyun felt something ruthlessly hit the back of his head; a pillow. He snapped out of his nap, feeling annoyed and confused, but reacted with his eyes still closed. “I’m awake! I’m awake!”

“Your phone is ringing.”

“Huh? What?” Seunghyun, clearly still drifting in and out of his slumber, turned to the source of the voice.

“Your  _phone!_ ” Zen pointed to the device on the nightstand next to Seunghyun’s bed.

“Huh? Oh.” He grabbed the phone and cleared his throat before swiping the screen. “Hello?” His attempt at trying to sound sober failed miserably as he noted the croaky sound of his still sleeping voice.

But the soft chuckle on the other end succeeded at whipping his brain to function properly.

“Am I interrupting something?”

Seunghyun’s eyes widened; tongue caught behind his teeth. He pulled the phone away to check the caller ID and gasped.

“Hello?”

“Hey! Yeah, hello. Yup. NO. No, no, you’re not interrupting something.  _Anything._  Wait, give me a sec.” Seunghyun jostled up from his bed, throwing the pillow back to his roommate. He mouthed ‘Jiyong’ and pointed a finger to his phone while scrambling off the bed and out the door.

He sprinted along the hallway to the patio at the end of it and leaned against the railing. He took a few deep breaths before pulling up the phone back to his ear. Thank god no one was there.

“Hello? Jiyong? Sorry about that. You still there?” He was still panting through his words.

Soft chuckles. “Hi..”

“Yeah, hey..” Seunghyun ran a nervous hand through his hair, propping one elbow onto the top of the railing.

“Are we gonna keep saying hi, or..” Jiyong chuckled even more.

“No! Of course not.” Seunghyun let out a nervous laugh. “So..how was- How was Bali? Wait, are you even back yet?” Seunghyun face-palmed himself as soon as he asked the question.  _Of course he’s home, he’s calling from a local number._

“Yeah, I am.” Jiyong sounded so chirpy Seunghyun’s heart jumped a beat. “Bali was great, the wedding was beautiful and we had fun. So, yeah..”

“Cool..” Seunghyun scrunched up his face at how lame he sounded.

And then they both fell into an awkward silence; Seunghyun didn’t know what to say to begin about the date and Jiyong didn’t know how to remind Seunghyun about the date without seeming like a slut, shamelessly offering himself. But they can’t stay quiet like this, now can they? In an awkward effort to break the silence, they both stuttered out intangible words, more like intangible  _sounds_ , causing both to fall into a fit of giggles.

Seunghyun let Jiyong proceed. “No, nothing. Just umm…remember I promised to let you know when I’m back? So…here I am. This is me keeping my promise.” That was Jiyong subtle attempt to remind Seunghyun of the date. He hoped he didn’t sound shameless.

“OH! Speaking of which,” Seunghyun mentally gave a pat on his back at successfully faking his reaction. “You owe me a date.”

Seunghyun could hear soft huff of a shy laugh from the other end. “Yeah..”

“So..” Seunghyun swallowed hard. “Are you..- When can we- Well, I don’t know if you are fine with it. But I’d like to, you know, talk to you, spend some time with you. Sorta like…take you out? Only if you want to, because I don’t want to if..you..don’t..want..to..” Seunghyun trailed off awkwardly. One of his hands was fisting on his own hair after he muttered the last part.  _Idiot. What was I even saying?_

“Well..” Seunghyun swore he could  _hear_  Jiyong’s smile through the phone. “Why not?”

“Really?” Seunghyun perked up.

“Yeah, really.”

“Is- Is tomorrow too soon?” Seunghyun pursed his lips and shut his eyes, anticipating the answer. A part of him was even ready to get rejected.

“No, tomorrow sounds great.”

“Wait, really?” Seunghyun is still holding his breath. He wanted to confirm if he heard correctly before jumping up and down.

“Yeah, really.” And Jiyong’s giggles did it. Seunghyun exhaled heavily, hurting his cheeks with the brightest smile.

“Alright then, I’ll um..I’ll- I’ll call you. Or text you.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.” Seunghyun is parroting the word because his mind was already working on the list of potential places for the date it couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“Okay,” Jiyong chuckled. “Are we going to keep saying okay,or..” He trailed off into more bubbles of chuckles.

“Oh, right. Sorry. I’ll call you.”

“Or text me." Jiyong added, mirroring Seunghyun's initial promise. "I’ll be waiting. Bye, Seunghyun.” Jiyong must’ve shaken his head at Seunghyun silliness.

“Bye, Jiyong.” And then he watched the screen of his phone, tapping on the red icon rapidly to make sure that the call has ended before he exclaimed a loud ‘YES!!’, startling the passersby. He waved a nervous apologetic hand and stormed back to his room.

 

“Where should I take him?” Seunghyun asked, hours later, while standing in front of his closet, picking out an outfit for the date tomorrow.

Zen, lounging on his bed with his hands behind his head, turned to Seunghyun. “Depends on what you want to put off; if you want to flash all your  _dollars and blings_ , there’s a fine dining restaurant next to the coffee shop that we went to last week.”

Seunghyun gave it a think before shaking his head. “Nah, I have a feeling he wouldn’t like places that. I want something casual and relax. Plus, a clumsy goof like me shouldn’t be allowed to go to places like that on a first date. I don’t want to humiliate myself.” He pulled out a white v-neck tshirt and a navy blue cardigan from his closet and laid them out on his bed.

“And I’m not rich. My parents are.” Seunghyun added, now laying out a red-white checkered shirt and a red jumper with navy blue sleeves.

“That’s what rich people always say.” Zen sat up, folding his legs against his chest and wrapped his arms around his knees. “Then take him to MacLarens. It’s our usual spot anyway, nothing would go wrong.  _Hopefully._ ”

Seunghyun sighed. “Yeah, I thought of going to MacLarens too. At lease I have less to worry about as I’m already familiar with the place.” He took both outfits and held them in front of him.

“So it’s settled then; MacLarens it is.”

“Which one?” Seunghyun twirled the garments in his hands, looking at his roommate expectantly.

“Do you really need to announce to the world that you’re a nerd?”

“Don’t hate me ‘cause you ain’t me. Come on, which one?”

"Who would've thought that you would be this excited picking out outfit for a date after all the  _'no, I'm not ready for this, I just broke up'_  shit." Zen mocked, waving his hands in the air.

Seunghyun dropped his hands to his sides. "Don't be a jackass." Then he pulled the outfits up again and raised his eyebrows.

Zen rolled his eyes. “You look good in red, so the red one.”

Seunghyun smiled teasingly. “If I don’t know better, I’d think you have a crush on me.” He laughed when Zen’s expression changed to annoyed. “I’m gonna let Jiyong know the place.” He grabbed his phone and sent out a text to Jiyong, informing the latter of the decided place to meet.

_Seunghyun: Hey. I’ll see you tomorrow at MacLarens at 7:00pm._

_Jiyong: Can’t wait. :)_

 

**_*******_ **

 


	7. The Date

 

“Zen!” Seunghyun called out as he tailed behind the man to his car. “I need a quick stop at the ATM; I’m out of cash.”

Zen frowned as he slid into the driver’s seat. “We’re gonna be late. Here, I’ll lend you some; you can pay me back later.  _Double_.” He tossed his wallet to Seunghyun with a teasing smirk.

“Why, thank you,  _Mr. Loan Shark._ ” He pulled out a couple of bills from the wallet, roughly enough for a dinner for two.

“You’ve got your cards, what you need the cash for?” Zen asked as he drove along, falling into the comfortable speed of commuters going home from work. “Or let Jiyong pay.”

Seunghyun’s glare caused Zen to laugh and he raised a hand in retreat.

“I don’t want to use my credit cards for this, no way! The bills go to my parents. I don’t want them to get suspicious and then get excited, especially my mom, and start asking questions about it.” A little smile appeared on his lips remembering his jovial mother. “I don’t want them to know about Jiyong yet.”

“So what if they do? They’re gonna want to meet their future son-in-law sooner or later.” Zen teased him.

But Seunghyun sounded sullen when he replied. “Don’t say crap like that…”

“What crap? Is Jiyong gonna be just a fling?”

“No, of course not. I don’t want him to be just a fling.”

“Good to know that I’m not spitting crap, but what’s the issue?”

Seunghyun groaned. “It’s too soon to be saying stuff like that; it would get my hopes up. What if  _I_  am just a fling to him?”

Zen huffed a smile. “I doubt that,” he countered with a wave of hand.

Seunghyun leaned back into his seat and exhaled a nervous breath. “Yeah, we’ll see..”

Silence hovered the next 10 minutes of the car ride; Seunghyun in his thoughts, trying to picture how the dinner is going to be, thinking of conversation starters, silently making list of things to talk about and things not to bring up yet, reminding himself not to order something that could fly off his plate if his fork and knife decide to not cooperate. Maybe he should just order anything pasta; but avoid meatballs.

 _Should I order for him too?_  He though, but discarded it right away because of the fact that he didn't have a clue of what Jiyong would like. He didn't have a clue of anything Jiyong, for that matter. Except that Jiyong was a good kisser and he wanted to kiss Jiyong again.

 

“So,” Zen broke the silence as the car came to a complete stop by the sidewalk, a few doors away from MacLarens. “Go and find out.” He gave Seunghyun’s shoulder a shove.

“What, are you just gonna drop me here and take off?” Seunghyun questioned as he unbuckled his seatbelt.

“Like hell I’m gonna join  _your date!_ ”

“Why would I want you to join our date? No. Just.. go take a look if he’s already in there.”

“You’re not serious.”

“If he’s not here yet, I’m just gonna wait here, in the car, until he arrives.”

“What if he is also doing the same thing; waiting for you in one of these cars and he won’t come out until you arrive, which means no one is getting off the car and then the date is not- You know what, let’s go.” Zen unbuckles his seatbelt and turns the engine off. “We’re  _both_  gonna go and see if he’s in there.  _Let’s go!”_

Seunghyun stepped out of the vehicle with a grin on his face, ignoring the grumbles from Zen.

Standing in front of the restaurant, the two friends peeked in through the huge glass window and scanned around the restaurant. It seemed like it was not a busy night as only half of the place was occupied. Maybe the hour was still early. The boys glanced around from one table to another, looking for the familiar face.

And then there he is, sitting in a booth at the far end of the restaurant, studying the menu in his hands.

Seunghyun gasped, grabbing Zen’s arm, and began to panic. “He’s here! He’s here! Zen, he’s here!”

Zen pulled his arm out of the death grip and slapped his roommate. “Will you cut it out?! Of course he’s here, you told him to be here. Gather yourself, for god’s sake.” Somehow Zen was glad that he tagged along. This was what he was worried about.

“Okay. Okay. I’m fine.” Seunghyun tugged the hem of his jacket and shirt to straighten them up, carded his hand through his hair once and twice and reassured Zen once again. “Yup, I’m fine.” Well, more like reassured himself.

“Alright, all the best to you, my friend. Don’t be nervous too much, you’ll be fine.” Zen reached out and dusted off Seunghyun’s shoulders, giving them an encouraging squeeze. “Go get him, tiger. Claim your man!”

Seunghyun paused and turned to him with a disgusted look.

Zen waved him off. “Yeah, sorry, that came out wrong. But you know what I mean. Not  _claim,_  claim. But  _claim_ , claim. Yeah, whatever. I’m gonna go now. You two have fun.” He clicked his tongue and gave another supportive pat on Seunghyun’s shoulder before walking off. “Call me if you need a ride back.”

Seunghyun chuckled, shaking his head, and walked through the door. He greeted the attendant by the rostrum and informed her that he had a reservation under Choi Seunghyun.

“Your guest is already here, Mr. Choi.” She smiled with a little nod and gestured a hand towards the table where Jiyong is sitting. “Let me show you your table.”

Seunghyun was not sure whether he thanked the waiter or not because he couldn’t hear himself among the deafening sound of his heartbeat. Walking in from the entrance, his eyes were fixed on Jiyong. The man was sitting by himself, looking down at the menu in his hands; pursing and licking his lips and puffing his cheeks. He had one elbow propped on the table and the hand was combing his hair back from falling into his eyes. He wore a black and white striped shirt and the long sleeves covered half of his hands up to his knuckles.

Seunghyun was entranced.  _How can someone be so alluring and effortlessly at it, too?_

“Here you are.” The attendant announced and Jiyong looked up at the two. “A waiter will be here in a moment to take your order.” She nodded and smiled to both of them and walked away.

Seunghyun turned to Jiyong and decided to play a gentleman. “Is this seat taken?” He asked, holding out a hand in the direction of the opposite seat.

Jiyong’s eyes dropped to the seat and back up to Seunghyun’s. “Yeah.”

“Oh. Umm..-” Seunghyun panicked. He scraped the back of his neck with his blunt nails and looked around the restaurant nervously.  _Did he forget how I looked like?_

“Seunghyun,” Jiyong called out. “I was just kidding. The seat is yours.” Jiyong smiled, biting his lower lip to stop himself from laughing at the older.

Seunghyun huffed a nervous laugh, slowly lowering himself into the seat. “Huh, you scared me for a sec. I thought you’ve forgotten how I looked like.”

“Sorry. But I don’t think that’s possible.” Jiyong smiled shyly.

Seunghyun frowned. “What’s not possible?”

Jiyong blushed. He didn’t think that Seunghyun wouldn’t get that remarks. “Umm..it’s impossible to forget how you looked like.” Jiyong’s cheeks felt warmer.

That caused Seunghyun to drop his gaze down to the table and laughed nervously.  _Wow. Just wow. He is shy but daring at the same time. Where did this little fox come from?_

“You look great.” Seunghyun offered a compliment.

“Thanks. You’re not too bad yourself; red looks great on you.”

“Thanks. Zen picked this out for me.”  _What the fuck was that? That was fucking weird._  “Zen’s my roommate.” In other words, it meant  _‘I’m not dating my roommate’._  Seunghyun was quick to add that note, hoping Jiyong would get the message.

Jiyong nodded. His smile was still as wide. “Zen sounds like a nice friend.”

“Yeah, he is. Speaking of which-”

“Hi, good evening. Are we ready to order?” Seunghyun was interrupted by a waiter, but he nodded anyway.

Seunghyun let Jiyong order first and he just watched as the latter pointed at the menu to make sure the waiter got the right thing. He watched as Jiyong counted with his fingers the things he didn’t want in his meal. He watched as Jiyong placed a finger on his lips, considering the waiter’s suggestions. He was still watching when Jiyong pursed his lips into a smile, handed the menu back to the waiter and turned to him.

“You turn.”

“I’ll just have whatever he’s having.” Seunghyun muttered and handed the menu to the waiter. He didn’t mean to be a sappy Romeo, ordering the same thing that his date was having. But he just couldn’t wait to have Jiyong’s attention back on him and not to the stranger who was standing next to their table.

“Are you sure?” Jiyong asked.

“Yeah. Why not.” Seunghyun shrugged and mumbled a ‘thanks’ to the waiter before she walked off. “So, where were we?”

 

Over their meal, Seunghyun learned that Jiyong is younger than him by one year. He’s got an older sister, father’s a successful businessman and mother’s a housewife and all three of them are living in Seoul. Jiyong was indeed studying the same major as Zen and they are classmates for two subjects.

And Jiyong learned that Seunghyun is an only child of business oriented parents as well. He already had an empire waiting to be taken over whenever he’s ready.

“That’s interesting.” Jiyong took a sip of his drink. “Usually, eligible heirs would be studying business and administration stuff. But you’re doing engineering.”

“Yeah, that’s the deal I made with my father. I didn’t really want to take over because this whole business thingy are not my cup of tea. But being the only child, I didn’t really have a choice. So I told my father to let me study whatever I want and I’ll take care of the business when I’m ready. He agreed so we had a deal.”

Jiyong figured that Seunghyun either was allergic to carrots or simply didn’t like them from the effort he put into nudging them out of his coleslaw. And the mashed potato; he didn’t even have a bite of it.

“You shouldn’t have ordered the same thing earlier.” Jiyong said, gesturing at the abandoned side dish.

“Oh, don’t worry about it. They serve mashed potato with almost every meal on the menu so there’s no way out of it.”

Jiyong chuckled. “What do you have against mashed potatoes?”

“Nothing,” Seunghyun laughed. “I used to love them. My grandmother made the best mashed potatoes ever. But I guess I’ve had enough of them I just couldn’t eat them anymore. Like I’ve reached my lifetime mashed potatoes consumption limit or something.”

Jiyong burst into laughter. “Too bad. I love them.”

“Well, I’ll take you to my grandma’s someday.”

That just slipped off Seunghyun’s tongue like it’s the most natural thing to say on first dates.  _I’ll take you to my grandma’s someday._  Seunghyun mocked himself in his head. He was ready to take back what he had just said but changed his mind when he noticed the blush on Jiyong cheeks and how the latter looked away to hide it.

Jiyong revealed that his pink hair was a result of a Truth-or-Dare game he had with a bunch of friends.

“Over Truth-or-Dare?” Seunghyun was astonished.  _Daring; checked._

“Yup. And I didn’t want to tell any of my embarrassing secrets so I went with Dare. Lucky me, I had to dye my hair pink. Actually, Zen was the one who picked the question for me.” He combed his fingers through the messy mop. “They did it on the spot.”  _Impulsive; checked._

“It looks good on you, though.”

“Good to know.”

 

The restaurant was just a couple of blocks away, so their decision to just walk back instead of calling their ‘chauffeurs’ wasn’t bad at all. Plus the weather was nice with gentle autumn breeze caressing the tip of their noses and ears.

“How did you get into the kissing project?” Seunghyun asked as they walked side by side.

“Zen. Well, he asked for my help. He said he just needed another guy for the project. I didn’t want to do it but he just kept asking until I didn’t have the heart to say no anymore. So I agreed.”

“Huh, funny.” Seunghyun made a mental note to slap his roommate later. “He said the exact same thing to get me to agree.”

“He did?”

Seunghyun huffed an amused laugh. “Yeah.” And then he turned to look at Jiyong. “And he promised to pair me up with someone cute.” He locked his eyes on Jiyong’s. “I guess I should thank him for keeping his promise.”

Jiyong’s gaze fluttered and he went scarlet. They walked in silence for a while after that; both were fighting back with their own heart threatening to burst out of their chests. The back of their hands occasionally rubbed against each other as they swung to rhythm of their steps. After a few times, Seunghyun risked it and took Jiyong’s hand into his.

“Is this okay?” He asked, looking at their clasped hands.

“Don’t you think I’d freak out if it’s not?”

 “I’ll take that as an okay then.” Seunghyun smiled to then laced their fingers together and tightened his grip.

Long before they knew, they were already standing in front of Jiyong’s apartment complex.

“So, this is you?” Seunghyun asked, gesturing at the lobby entrance, looking down at a very flustered Jiyong.

Jiyong nodded shyly, looking at the direction of the building before looking back up at Seunghyun. “I had a great time tonight and thanks for the dinner.”

“Me too.”

“Good night.”

“Good night.”

Jiyong chuckled. “Are you gonna let my hand go or not?” He asked teasingly.

Seunghyun shrugged. “Well it’s cold, you could freeze to death.”

Jiyong burst into laughter yet again. “You’re funny. I like that.”

Seunghyun smiled. “I like  _you_.” And the smile widened when Jiyong blushed. “You’re the first one to say that. No one thinks I’m funny. No one laughs at my jokes.”

Jiyong bit his lip. “Well I guess there’s something wrong with their sense of humor, then.”

It’s Seunghyun’s turn to blush. He couldn’t say anything back because his head is screaming for him to do something else.

“So..um..Jiyong?” Seunghyun paused as Jiyong looked at him with questioning eyes, “wanna try it again?”

Jiyong glanced up, pulling his lips behind his teeth, knowing exactly what Seunghyun meant by that. A smile slowly curved along his lips before he nodded slightly and shyly looked back down.

Seunghyun didn’t waste another second; he ducked his head and captured Jiyong’s lips. His arms made their way underneath Jiyong’s jacket all the way to the back of his waist and pulled him close. He smiled into the kiss as he felt Jiyong reciprocated. 

“I’ve been dying to do that from the moment I saw you tonight.” Seunghyun confessed after they pulled away.

“You should’ve just asked me. It’s not like this is our first kiss.”

Seunghyun swore his heart stopped for a moment at the mention of  _‘our first kiss’._   _Our._

“Duly noted. So, that would be the last time I ask for permission to kiss you then. You are so tempting I won’t be as polite next time.”

Jiyong laughs.  _He laughs. He really thinks I’m funny. He gets my jokes._

“Permission granted.”

 

**********

 


	8. Tony Stark

 

Four months later found the three friends walking to a bar; a mutual friend was having a party and they were all invited. From afar, the trio looked like they were discussing something serious with Seunghyun frowning and retaliating.

“You guys are ganging up on me.”

“No, we’re not. Spiderman  _is_  the most boring superhero ever.” Zen restated.

“You. Batman.” Seunghyun pointed a finger at Zen. “He can’t even fly.”

“But he’s got awesome bikes and mobiles.” Jiyong interjected.

Zen high-fived him. “Thank you.”

"But Gotham City isn't real." Jiyong added mischievously.

"Hey! Come on!"

Seunghyun turned to Jiyong. “And you. Iron Man. He doesn’t even have a super power. How can he be a  _superhero?_  And he's a narcissist.”

Jiyong stopped in his tracks and stood in front of Seunghyun. He pulled a hand up and caressed the side of Seunghyun’s face. “He has every right to be. Because he’s handsome. He’s rich. And he’s a techie boy.” He let the last word trailed off into hot breaths against Seunghyun’s lips. Before Seunghyun could react, Jiyong smirked and spun on his heels and continued walking.

Seunghyun stood with his mouth agape and his roommate cackled with laughter on his side. “Did you just compare me with  _Tony Stark?_ ”

“Why are you mad? It’s a compliment.” Jiyong pulled him by the arm.

“And I’m not rich, my-”

“Your parents are. Yeah, we know.” Zen and Jiyong cut him off in unison before the latter continued.

“And let’s face it; Spiderman, Batman and Iron Man. Clearly, Iron Man is the coolest; like for one, he doesn’t hide. Everyone knows who Iron Man is. While Spiderman and Batman are wrapped up in super tight suits and living double lives.”

“Oh, yeah? Well Tony Stark is a player.” Seunghyun knew Jiyong wouldn’t like that fact. He knew he’s right when he’s met with a glare and a forefinger pointed in his face.

“But he’s settled down with Pepper. While Peter...well, is he still pining over MJ? He is, isn’t he?” Jiyong clicked his tongue and shook his head in mock sympathy. “ _Bruce Wayne_ over there got his tongue tied.”

“I can’t win with that card, man. Batman’s got a pretty long list.”

Jiyong laughed. “Embrace it, fellas. Iron Man  _is_  the greatest of them all.” Jiyong threw his hands ceremoniously in the air.

Seunghyun wrapped an arm around Jiyong’s shoulders and pulled him close. “This isn’t over yet,  _Pepper_   _Potts_.”

Jiyong smiled and maybe blushed a little at the reference as they walked into the bar.

 

An hour into the party, the place was rad. Apparently, it was a birthday party but no cake, no balloons; just greasy food and beer. The three friends, Jiyong squashed in between, and a bunch of others sat around a high table, chatting animatedly over the same superhero topic they were discussing earlier. Jiyong had a satisfied smile across his face as Iron Man had a couple more fanboys at the table. They were in a middle of a debate when someone approached Seunghyun and all eyes turned to him. Jiyong didn’t like how comfortably close that man seemed to have perched himself next to Seunghyun.

“Hey, Seunghyun.” The man greeted.

“Jin!”

Jiyong froze. That name was hauntingly familiar. And from the way Zen heaved a heavy sigh, he knew he was right.

“Hi.” Jin smiled.

“Haven’t seen you around in..” Seunghyun trailed off.

“Yeah, I took the last semester off. Personal reasons.”

“Oh, umm..” Seunghyun cleared his throat and turned to his side. “You remember my roommate, Zen.” He gestured to the said man.

“Yeah, of course.” Zen offered a tight smile as they exchanged a hand shake.

“And this is my friend, Jiyong.” Seunghyun leaned back a little to give some space for Jin to lean over and shook Jiyong’s hand.

 _Friend_. Jiyong felt sick.

“You guys go ahead and catch up, I’m just gonna go to the bathroom real quick.” Jiyong excused himself and Zen disapproved with a glare. But Jiyong slipped off of his stool and left anyway.

He did go to the bathroom. But after he was done, he didn’t return to the table. He perched onto a high stool at the bar, ordered himself a drink and watched over at the table from afar.

“Who am I kidding?” Jiyong scoffed, sipping on his drink.

A girl, all giggly and chirpy, approached the bar and blurted her order to the bartender. She turned to her side and noticed Jiyong and yelped. “Ji! I didn’t know you’re here!” The girl pulled herself up onto the stool next to Jiyong.

“Hey, Leyla.” Jiyong knew her from a few classes they took together.

“Are you here alone?”

“Nope, with a bunch of friends over there.” He raised his can of beer towards the direction of their table from earlier. “Are you?” Jiyong knew it’s impossible for one of the hottest girls in campus to come to a party alone, but he asked anyway following the social convention to be polite and to start a conversation.

“Of course not.” She smirked. “I’m here with Tayte.”

“Tayte?! I thought I saw Levi earlier?” 

“Yeah, we broke up. That’s why I came with Tayte; to make him jealous.” She wiggled her eyebrows like it was something funny. 

Jiyong was this close to hyperventilating.

“And Tayte didn’t mind?”

“Well, he doesn’t know that I’m using him to get back at Levi. He’s just a rebound. He doesn’t need to know anything.”

“Huh.” Jiyong felt his heartbeat quickened and his palms became sweaty. "Wow."

Leyla slid off her stool and flashed Jiyong a smile. “Enjoy the rest of the night, Ji. I know I will.” She winked and walked away with her drinks.

 _Rebound_. Jiyong felt the nausea creeping back up, but a hand on his back startled him.

“Are you okay?” It was Zen.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Jiyong finished up his beer in one go.

“You sure?” Zen took the seat where Leyla sat earlier.

“Yeah.” Jiyong slammed the empty can onto the counter top. He huffed a little and hung his head in between his propped arms. He looked up after a few moments and glanced over at the table. Seunghyun was still actively chatting with the people at the table including Jin. A cynical huff of laugh slipped off his lips. “Look at  _Tony Stark_  being  _Tony Stark_.”

“Jiyong, you’re drunk.”

“I’m not! A little tipsy, yes. But I’m not drunk.” He swatted Zen’s hand that was trying to keep him from toppling off the stool. “I have a question, though." He paused, eyes still locked on Seunghyun and his friends. "Is that Jin,  _Jin?_ ”

“Jiyong, it’s not what you think. They broke up almost a year and a half ago.”

Jiyong nodded and stretched his arms over his head. He exhaled heavily as he slumped back down. “Yeah, I’m gonna go.”

“Okay, let me go get Seunghyun.”

“Don’t. I wanna see how long it would take for him to notice that I’m gone.” Jiyong raised himself from the stool and patted Zen on his shoulder.

“Jiy- I’ll come with you.”

“No, no, no. It’s okay. You can stay. I’ll take a cab.”

 

Seunghyun found Zen at the bar half an hour later.

“Hey, where’s Jiyong? I’ve been looking for him all over the place.”

Zen glared at his roommate. “Well if you came to look for him here an hour ago, you would’ve found him.”

Seunghyun frowned. “What’s going on?” He fished for his phone from his pocket and dialed Jiyong's number.

“What do you think is going on? Jin was here and you seemed so eager to catch up with him and you didn’t even notice Jiyong was gone until now?”

“Shit.” The first dial went to voice mail, so he tried again.

“Seunghyun, you’re doing it again.”

“Doing what again?” Seunghyun gritted his teeth. His hands were shaking and he didn’t need his roommate to lecture him right now.

“Just like what you did to Jin. You friendzoned Jiyong in front of everyone at the table. You introduced him to Jin, your  _ex-boyfriend_ , as your friend. He’s clearly heads over heels for you, can’t you see it?”

“He is?”

Zen shook his head and heaved a frustrated sigh. “You know, with a pretty face like yours, you really need to grease up your brain.”

“I just.. Ughhh! I don’t think there’s a need to put a label on this sort of things.”

“That’s how  _you_  feel. Is that how  _he_  feels, though?” Zen asked. He felt kinda annoyed with his roommate right now.

Seunghyun didn’t retaliate and tried calling Jiyong for the third time. He paced back and forth with a hand on his waist while waiting for Jiyong to pick up.

“Jiyong! Where are you?”  _Finally._

Zen looked up, listening to the one-sided conversation.

“Wait there. Don’t go anywhere. Jiyong, please.” Seunghyun grabbed his jacket and stormed out of the bar. He didn't care if Zen was following after him or not, he just needed to get to Jiyong.

_I need to fix this._

 

**********

 


	9. A Turbulence

 

“Jiyong!”  _Finally_. “Where are you?”

“Does it matter?”

“Jiyong, just tell me where you are.” Seunghyun almost screamed that out into his phone.

Jiyong sighed. “Your dorm.”

“Wait there. Don’t go anywhere. Jiyong, please.” Seunghyun grabbed his jacket and stormed out of the bar. He didn't care if Zen was following after him or not, he just needed to get to Jiyong.

 

No, Zen didn’t follow after him. He decided to give Seunghyun and Jiyong their space to talk, so he stayed at the bar. He shook his head at how dumb his roommate can be sometimes and he really hoped that things would turn out fine.

“Hey, Zen.” A voice startled him and he almost choked on his drink. Wiping off the spilt drink on his thighs, he turned to the intruder.

“What are you doing here?” Zen turned his head away.

“Ooh, harsh,” Jin smirked. A cigarette wedged between his lips and he lit it up. “Nice to see you, too.” He took a drag from the cigarette and blew the smoke out through his mouth. “You didn’t talk much earlier.”

“Yeah, about that. I want you to stay away from Seunghyun.” Zen warned without even looking at the man.

Jin smirked and took another draw. “Wow, you’re  _still_  playing his  _bodyguard._  How endearing.”

“Look,” Zen, almost fed up, turned to him again. “I don’t like you. In fact, I’ve never liked you. At all. I was only nice to you before because you were with Seunghyun. But now, I don’t have a reason to. I’m gonna say it again; stay away from Seunghyun.”

Jin scoffed. “Does the pink-haired.. _nymph_..have anything to do with this?” He tapped his cigarette against the ashtray.

Zen didn’t answer, but his fists tightened and he took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself down or else this cocky son of a bitch would find himself waking up in a hospital bed the next morning.

“Oh, come on,” Jin had the nerve to nudge Zen with his knuckle. “Just tell me already. They’re going out, aren’t they?”

Zen refused to answer or even react.

“Alright, fine,” he continued as Zen remained silent. “I won’t touch your precious friend. I just want to know what the deal between them is so that I can-”

“Just what do you want?” Zen spat through his gritted teeth.

“Yo, chill.” Jin laughed, putting out his cigarette in an ashtray in front of him. “Seunghyun.” He canted his chin up and huffed out the final smoke from his mouth. “I want Seunghyun back?”

Zen let out a cynical laugh. “Why? Did the bastard you left Seunghyun for dump you?” He sneered when Jin didn’t say a word. “He did, didn’t he?” Zen downed the remaining of his drink. “Good for him. I’m not sorry.”

“It’s none of your business.”

“Well it is if you’re gonna stir up some trouble in Seunghyun’s life again.”

“Why are you so defensive over him?” Jin folded his arms across his chest and narrowed his eyes. A mocking smile etched onto his lips. “Oh, could it be that you have a crush on him?”

Zen cursed under his breath. “I’ve known him long enough to call him my brother. And I was there when  _you_  decided he was no good for you and left for someone  _‘better’_.” Zen mimicked the quotes in the air with his fingers. “You think I’m gonna sit around and watch you ruin his relationship just because  _you want him back?_  Fuck off. I won’t let that happen.”

Jin was still smiling, like what Zen just said didn’t register in his head at all. “So they  _are_  in a relationship?”

“Just stay away.”

Jin took out another cigarette from the pack and lit it up. “Sadly, you don’t have a control over this.” He craned his neck and huffed the smoke upward. “I had him wrapped around my finger once. I’m sure I can do it again. ”

“Huh, good luck with that.” Zen scoffed.

Jin stood up from his seat and pulled the hem of his shirt and jacket, straightening them out. “Thanks. But I don’t need it.”

Zen shrugged. “I wouldn’t be too confident if I were you. That  _pink-haired nymph?_  Yeah, he isn’t just another guy.”

Jin let out a laugh. “We’ll see about that. But thanks for the heads up.” He patted Zen on his shoulder. “I gotta go. Nice seeing you again, Zen.” He smirked one last time and walked pass Zen towards the exit door.

Zen rubbed his temples and shook his head.  _I need to talk to Seunghyun._

 

Jiyong didn’t know why, of all places, he ended up in Seunghyun’s dorm. Maybe, unconsciously, he felt the need to confront this matter, to get some explanation. He looked around the room and noticed a few of his own belongings casually placed on the racks, the nightstands, and there was even his cardigan hanging on the closet door. He had spent countless nights in this room; be it for group assignments or group studies with Zen or just a movie night, or game night, with Seunghyun or both.

He sat on the edge of Seunghyun’s bed. He’s spent countless nights in there too. They haven’t gone all the way, but Jiyong loved nothing more than to sleep in Seunghyun’s arms; getting a good night kiss right before he closed his eyes and a good morning kiss right after, or sometimes even before he opened his eyes. He smoothed his palm along the Spiderman bedsheet and the corner of his mouth curled up into a smile unknowingly, remembering all the stuff they did around the room. But when the event at the club came rushing back to the front of his mind, it was suddenly overwhelming. He felt sick.

“I shouldn’t be here,” Jiyong whispered to himself and stood up abruptly, wiping a tear that he didn’t know had rolled down his cheek. “What am I doing here?” He gathered his jacket into his shaky hands and quickly left the room.

But his steps faltered in the hallway and he just stood there; shoulders slumped, his jacket in one hand. His breathing changed and he felt even more like crying; not out of sadness but he was angry, probably more at himself than the person who was standing a few steps away from him, blocking his exit.

“Jiyong,” Seunghyun took a step forward but stopped when Jiyong stepped back. He raised his hands carefully, about the height of his chest, letting Jiyong know that he was not trying anything aggressive, and hoped that Jiyong would relax a little bit. To be honest, Seunghyun was taken aback, afraid even. He had never seen Jiyong like this; glaring at him, with hands fisted on his sides, chest heaving with heavy breaths.

Seunghyun braved another step and gauged Jiyong’s reaction before taking another step. When Jiyong didn’t repulse from it, he strode closer. “Let’s talk inside,” he coaxed in a hush voice, hands lightly curled around Jiyong’s elbows; not too tight because the atmosphere was too fragile Jiyong might break, and not too loose that Jiyong could escape.

“No!” Jiyong pushed him away and snapped his arms out of Seunghyun’s hands.

But Seunghyun quickly stepped back, squaring his shoulders. “I’m not gonna let you leave like this.” Voice stern, his hands were back on where they were on Jiyong’s arms.

Jiyong huffed in anger; still didn’t know whether at himself or at the other. Probably a little at his own tear ducts for the tears that kept on rolling off the corner of his eyes. He pushed Seunghyun away again, but this time, instead of trying to escape, he pushed the door to Seunghyun’s room open and walked inside.

Seunghyun dropped his hands to his sides with a heavy sigh; as heavy as his steps into his room.

Jiyong stood in the middle of the room, arms crossed and eyes fixed on the back of the door and he waited.

“Jiyong,” Seunghyun stopped just a step away in front of Jiyong. He ducked his head to look into Jiyong’s eyes. “What is it? Tell me.”

Jiyong scoffed, rolling his eyes. “ _What is it?_  You want me to lay everything out for you to understand? For you to  _see_? Well then,  _nothing_!” Jiyong kept his eyes glaring into Seunghyun’s.

Seunghyun cradled the side of Jiyong’s face. “You’re crying over nothing?” He meant it as a tease, although in the back of his mind he knew that that was a bad move. But it was too late to take it back.

Jiyong pulled away, removing his face from Seunghyun’s fingers, eyes flaring with fire. “Why, thank you for rubbing salt into my wound by reminding me that I’ve wasted my tears over  _nothing!”_

Seunghyun gulped.  _Definitely a wrong move._  He deserved that sarcasm.

In his defense, he was trying to approach the matter carefully with delicate questions. But apparently, Jiyong didn’t have the patience for all those kinds of sweet talks right now. And his lack of social skill was not helping at all.

It was probably easier to just dive in straight on. He reached out for Jiyong again.

“Jiyong, I’m-”

Jiyong swatted his hand away. “Don’t you have a  _boyfriend_  to entertain? He seemed more important than me. Why are you here? Bothering yourself with me?”

“Jiyong, don’t be ridiculous.”  _Oh crap. That can’t be a right thing to say either._  Seunghyun is clueless. Everything he said, everything he did seemed to enrage Jiyong even more.  _Somebody help me. Zen, where are you?_

Jiyong snapped. “I  _am_  ridiculous. I  _deserved_  to be ridiculous because I am mad for letting myself into this shit, for letting myself believe that this could mean something more. I should blame myself. I  _am_  blaming myself. Because whatever the hell you do shouldn’t bother me because it has nothing to do with me. I don’t know where I stand in this. I don’t even know what ‘this’ is. Do we have a name for this? Do we even have ‘this’?” Jiyong was breathless at the end of his spitfire.

Seunghyun couldn’t say anything. He didn’t know what to say or how to react. Given the evidence of his miscalculations earlier, he decided to swallow all his words and just wrapped Jiyong in his arms instead. He stiffened at first, waiting for Jiyong to retaliate, to violently shake out of his embrace.

But the opposite happened; Jiyong broke down. He buried his face in Seunghyun chest, hands fisting on the fabric of Seunghyun’s shirt. “How could you..”

 _No._  Seunghyun tightened his arms around Jiyong frail shoulders. “Jiyong, no. This is just a misunderstanding.” He swayed them both in the embrace. “I’ve been dying to call you my boyfriend and introduce you to the world. But we’ve never talked about this. I was afraid that I would scare you if I address you as my boyfriend out of a sudden. Maybe it’s too early for you.” He ran a soothing hand up and down Jiyong’s back and the action seemed to calm the latter down a little bit.

They stood there in silence for a minute. Or maybe ten? Or thirty. Or maybe an hour? They didn’t know. But it was almost deafening when Jiyong finally spoke up.

“Let me ask you one thing.” He looked up; no more daggers, no more fire in his gaze. The brown eyes were now soft and hopeful.

Seunghyun knew from the way Jiyong was looking into his eyes that the question was important to Jiyong and a wrong answer would change everything. If Jiyong were to ask if he loved him, Seunghyun already had the answer at the tip of his tongue; he was so ready to say it out loud. He didn’t care if it would scare Jiyong away.

“Anything..” Seunghyun was also ready to lay his heart out.

Jiyong nodded. “Do you..” Jiyong paused and sighed. The question weighed heavy on his heart string. He knew the answer could either be his poison or his cure. “Do you still have feelings for him?”

 _Wait a minute._  Seunghyun was stunned. That wasn’t the question he was expecting. Jin was long forgotten. He knew, positively, whole heartedly, that he had no feelings whatsoever towards that man anymore. He had Jiyong now, and everything revolved around him. Jiyong was all he could think of in every living second. But Jiyong was doubting him, doubting the way he felt. Through this confusion, Seunghyun didn’t realize that he had left the question hanging.

The long pause crushed Jiyong. He shut his eyes in frustration and wiped his tears before he twisted in Seunghyun’s arms and freed himself. Seunghyun panicked.

“Jiyong, no! I don’t have feelings for him anymore!”

Jiyong shook his head. “Too late. That pause said it all.”

“No, it didn’t!”

“I have nothing else to say to you.”

“Jiyong, please. You know it’s not true.”

“I don’t know what is true anymore, Seunghyun!” Jiyong raised his voice as the glare returned. “And I don’t know what to believe. You practically abandoned me the moment he showed up at our table!”

“You went to the bathroom and never came back!”  _Fuck, not again._  Seunghyun regretted that as soon as he said it.

“So it was my fault? Is that your best defense, Seunghyun?” Jiyong gritted his teeth. “I sat at the bar and watched you having a good time with you ex. I quietly cursed myself for being stupid for believing that any of this is true. Zen found me at the bar. A  _random friend_  found me at the bar. But you? Do you have any idea how insignificant you made me feel?”

Seunghyun was thoroughly frustrated and helpless.

“So tell me what I should believe.” With that, Jiyong marched out of the room and slammed the door behind him.

 

Jiyong threw himself on his bed once he reached his room. He was huffing and tossing and turning when his phone beeped.

It was a text.

From Seunghyun.

_Jiyong. I’m gonna call you in a minute. Please, please, please pick up. I know you don’t have anything to say to me, but please hear me out. Please._

Seunghyun dialed Jiyong’s number as soon as the tiny remark in the conversation bubble indicated that the message has been read. He took a deep breath and held it and counted the dialing tones. There was a soft click after the third ring.

“Jiyong?” It was quiet, but Seunghyun knew Jiyong was there and listening.  _It’s okay. At least he picked up. I still have a chance._

“Jiyong...” Seunghyun began. “Please believe me that I don’t have feelings for him anymore. If you need me to say it a thousand times, I wouldn’t mind saying it for 999 times more. Just please believe me. I’ll make it right, Jiyong. I want to make it right. Just give me a chance. Please.”

Seunghyun paused, fingers of his other hand pressed against his temple. It was still quiet on Jiyong’s side. So Seunghyun continued.

“I’m sorry I made you feel like you were not important, like you were insignificant. You are not. You are a big part of my life now and I don’t plan to change that. Not now, not ever.”

Seunghyun inhaled deeply. He sat there helplessly in silence with a hand fisted in his hair.

“Jiyong,” he called out after a few moments. “I wish I had said this earlier. But.. I don’t-” Seunghyun sighed again. “I didn’t know how to. I’m not good at this. But I hope you know and remember that I mean it with all my heart.”

Seunghyun paused and gathered the courage to say what he said next.

“I love you, Jiyong. I really do.”

Seunghyun felt like a huge rock has been lifted from his chest after the confession. He believed in  _‘action speaks louder than words’._  So he was surprised at how easy it was saying it to Jiyong. And it felt right, too. But the silence that hung after that was deafening.  _Did he hang up? Was he even listening?_

But then Seunghyun heard a soft shuffling sound through the phone. And a sniffle too.

“Jiyong?”

“Good night, Seunghyun.”

_Click._

 

**********

 


	10. Have Me Back

 

Seunghyun’s eyes fell closed. He couldn’t pin out what to do next. His mind was racing and everything swirled into a series of blurriness.

And the same questions kept repeating among the chaos in his head.  _Did Jiyong hear what I said? Did he even listen to my confession?_

The phone was still gripped tightly in his hand, pressed against his ear even long after Jiyong had hung up.

Seunghyun looked up when the door opened. He was hoping that Jiyong had changed his mind and came back. He blinked a few times and sighed at the sight of his roommate.  

Zen paused in the doorway for a moment, holding the door opened, before walking over to Seunghyun and closed the door behind him. He lowered himself next to his roommate.

“I screwed up,” Seunghyun mumbled, head hung long between his shoulders.

Zen wrapped an arm around Seunghyun's shoulders and rocked them a little. “Did you talk to him?” He said after a moment.

Seunghyun sniffled. “Yeah.”

“Was that him? On the phone?”

“No. Well yes, but he was here before. We talked and things-” Seunghyun inhaled and sighed, shaking his head, “things didn’t go well. And he’s so mad at me, Zen.”

“I’m sorry, man.” Zen sympathized, arm still tightly comforting around Seunghyun’s shoulders. “Maybe you should give him some space for now.”

Seunghyun’s head snapped up, eyes blown wide. Cue panic in three, two, one. “Give him space?! NO. No way. What if he refuses to talk to me ever again? What if he thinks he’s done with me? What if he wants to break up? No, I can’t do that. I can’t give him space to let him imagine me out of his life and then maybe like the idea. I can’t give him space if it would drift him away from me and falls out and never-“

“Whoa! Whoa! Hey! Seunghyun, relax. Calm down.” Zen cut him off and shook him hard. “Calm down.”

Seunghyun’s chest heaved with heavy breaths. He scrubbed his face with his clammy palms, wiping away the tears he didn’t notice had rolled down his cheeks.

“What I’m saying is, give him time,” Zen paused when Seunghyun shook his head. “Seunghyun, listen to me. Give him time to calm down and time to think. Both of you are clouded by anger and anxiety right now. You can’t think straight. It’s definitely not a good time to make a decision.”

“What if he’s already made a decision?” Seunghyun squeaked.

“Seunghyun,” Zen scratched his head, “you need to stop making stupid assumptions like that. Don’t be dramatic. You are killing yourself.”

Seunghyun inhaled deeply when he found truth in what Zen just said. “I can’t lose him, Zen. I don’t want to lose him.”

“You won’t.”

Seunghyun scoffed. “You don’t know that.” And the panic washed over him once again. “He was mad. I’ve never seen him mad. And he didn’t want to talk to me. He picked up my call, yes, but he didn’t even say a word. It was just me blabbering like an idiot. I even told him I loved him but he didn’t say anything and hung up.” Seunghyun blurted out and heaved for air.

Zen blinked. “You told him you loved him?”

“Yes, but he didn’t say anything back. How cruel is that? Like, was I supposed to guess if he loves me back or not? Or should I just pick a flower and pull at the petals one by one? Or maybe I should-“

“Good God! Seunghyun, please stop. I am  _this_  close to hitting you right now. I said relax.”

“I can’t relax, Zen! How can I relax?”

Zen sighed for the umpteenth time. “I know. I know. I get how you are feeling right now.”

And then they both fell into silence. Zen was simply giving Seunghyun an interval to catch his breath and to clear his mind. It almost turned awkward when Zen spoke up again, with one detail that kept beaming in his head like an annoying neon signboard at a beat-up motel.

“You told him you loved him?”

Seunghyun just nodded, eyes staring at the floor. He didn’t even spare his roommate a glance.

“Well,” Zen trailed off, trying to find the right words to say. “Well, that’s- that’s good?” A remark oddly turned into a question because he was not sure how Seunghyun would react, but the words slipped out before he could stop them. He quickly pursed his lips when Seunghyun looked up, face scrunched up in frustration.

“He didn’t say anything back, Zen, how is that good?”

“I- I meant good for you. Because you weren’t the type to let your feelings out and confess. At least not before the other person does. This is like a…umm…a…like um…like a change. A good change.”

Seunghyun scoffed. “Well then, lucky me. The first person I poured my heart to thinks I’m an asshole.”

“No, he doesn’t.”

Seunghyun squinted. “Pick a side, Zen.”

“No, I’m not gonna pick a side, I’m  _Switzerland_. I pick your side and I pick Jiyong’s side too. I am rooting for both of you. I’m the matchmaker if you don’t remember. Just-” Zen paused when Seunghyun rose from the bed to take his jacket off and draped it over the back of his chair. “Just let it be for tonight, okay? Sleep on it. You’ll get a clearer mind when you wake up and hopefully things will turn out fine.”

“Yeah..” Seunghyun didn’t bother changing into something else. He just dropped himself back, face first, onto his bed in his shirt and denim.

Zen folded one leg up and turned halfway to pat on Seunghyun’s back. “Just one more thing.”

Seunghyun looked up sideways.

“Be careful with Jin.”

Seunghyun frowned.

“He’s up to no good.”

Seunghyun huffed. “Huh?”

“Yeah, we talked for a while at the bar.” Zen clicked his tongue. “Just be careful, okay?” He warned once again.

Seunghyun nodded against his fluffy pillow. “Thanks.”

“No problem. Good night.”

Seunghyun muttered back as Zen patted his back one more time before he rose from his seat. Seunghyun lied there, on his front, trying to stop the carousel of thoughts playing their arguments over and over again. He couldn’t shut his eyes, because every time he tried, all he could see was the image of Jiyong’s face; so sad and broken. So he rolled onto his back, blinking up at the ceiling.

 _Things will be alright._ He cooed himself.  _I’ll make it right again._

He reached for his phone and typed up a short text.

_"Good night, Jiyong. I’m sorry."_

His thumb hovered over the ‘send’ icon for a moment and then he tapped it before he could change his mind.

He didn’t get a reply.

 

When the alarm went off the next morning, Zen woke up to an empty room. He thought Seunghyun might have gone to his class but then he noticed Seunghyun's satchel was still slung onto his swivel chair. Zen got out of his bed, scratching his bum, looking around the medium-sized room. He knew he would have already seen Seunghyun if the guy was in the room.

 _He can't really hide in this room with that height of his. Even if he can, why would he hide?_ Zen asked himself before he realized how stupid he sounded. He shook it off and stretched his entire body, let out the biggest yawn, and was about to grab his towel when the door opened.

"Hey." Seunghyun walked in with cups of coffee in his hands. He was dressed in a pair of black Adidas tracksuit and he was drenched in sweat.

"Hey yourself. Where have you been?"

"I couldn't sleep, so I went for a jog."

"The entire night?"

"No, just a couple hours ago." Seunghyun placed down two steaming cups of coffee onto his desk. "Here, I got you coffee."

"Sweet. Just what I needed. I'm still kinda-" Zen was cut off by a little detail. "Wait. If you're already holding one and I'm holding one, then whose coffee is this?" He asked, pointing at another cup nesting in the cardboard holder.

Seunghyun sipped on his coffee, nervously looking at his roommate over the rim of his cup. He even blushed a little bit.

Zen went ahead and picked up the cup out of the holder when Seunghyun avoided answering the question by pretending to keep drinking his coffee. Zen turned the cup around to look at the scribbled name. His face scrunched up while he tried to figure out what was written there. And when he did, he snorted.

Seunghyun groaned and lowered his cup. “You have a class with him this morning, don't you?”

“Yeah.”

“Can you--" Seunghyun fiddled with the zipper of his jacket. "Can you pass the coffee to him?"

Zen smirked and shook his head in disbelief. “You’re such a cheesy sap.”

"I hate you so much."

 

Zen walked into the lecture hall, with two cups of coffee in hands, and noticed the pink mop of hair right away; Jiyong was sitting in his usual spot, minding his own business. Zen walked over and took the empty seat next to Jiyong and cleared his throat. Jiyong turned around.

“Oh, hey Zen.” Jiyong shifted nervously. He had a pair of sunglasses on.

"What's up with the shades?"  _Stupid question. He must've been crying all night._

"Oh, um..I--" Jiyong croaked and hawked nervously. He sat up from his slump, hands arranging the books and notes on his desk. "I'm still a little hungover from last night."

 _Yeah, right._  But Zen bit his tongue and said this instead. "Good thing I have this for you then." He placed the cup onto Jiyong’s notepad.

"Ah, thanks." Jiyong let out a relieved sigh, hands nestling the warm cup. "You're a life saver."

"Don't thank me," Zen turned the cup, with the side where the handwritten name was on, towards Jiyong.

But Jiyong was confused. Because what he saw, was not his name. He blinked a few times when he noticed the scribble was a bit too long to be a name. He picked up the cup and read it.

_“What does an angel have above his head? ;)”_

“Halo,” Jiyong whispered out the answer. It sounded like ‘hello’. A smile slowly crept up along his lips. He remembered the time when Seunghyun’s phone rang and Seunghyun muttered the riddle quickly before answering the call with ‘halo’ instead of ‘hello’. Jiyong thought it was so funny he couldn’t stop laughing even until after the call ended. He also remembered the proud smile on Seunghyun face for being the reason of his laughter.

But the smile disappeared as quickly as it appeared when Jiyong remembered the event of last night.

He didn't say anything to Seunghyun about the coffee. He didn't even text Seunghyun anything. But he still received one later that night, right before he went to sleep. Something short and sweet; wishing him good night and sweet dreams.

 

The next afternoon, Seunghyun found Zen in the library.

"Zen!" Seunghyun called out in a loud whisper. He stood across from his roommate, leaning against the table with both hands on the tabletop.

Zen looked up but his gaze quickly fell onto a little notebook in Seunghyun's hands. "What's that?" He asked, pointing at it. He didn't know what it was but he could guess who it was for.

"This?" Seunghyun straightened up. " _This_ , is a notebook. Jiyong's notebook. He left it in our room the other day and I know he's gonna need it for his class later." He smiled, tapping the notebook against his palm, looking back at Zen meaningfully before he tossed it across the table.

“Again?” Zen complained, stopping the notebook from falling off the edge with his hand. "What, did you write a sonnet for him somewhere in here?"

“Shut up. You said you were rooting for us.” Seunghyun ignored his roommate's groan, clicked his tongue and shot him with his finger gun.

 

"You better forgive him soon, Jiyong," Zen muttered as he lowered himself into his seat next to Jiyong.

"What?" Jiyong asked. He didn't catch what Zen was saying.

"Here."

"Ah, my notebook!" Jiyong took it into his hands and fanned through the pages mindlessly. "I thought of dropping by your room and- Oh!" Jiyong stopped in the middle of his lie, noticing something on the pages, which got Zen curious.

He peeked over Jiyong's shoulder. "What? What is it?"

"Er, nothing! No- nothing." Jiyong slammed the book shut and tucked it away from Zen.

"Cheap." Zen squinted. "He wrote you a sonnet, didn't he? I knew it. That cheesy sap."

"No, he did not." Jiyong trailed off into soft chuckles and shook his head, biting on his lower lip to contain his embarrassment. He knew he was blushing.

Halfway through the lecture, when he was sure Zen was not paying attention to him, Jiyong took out the notebook. He flipped the pages until he came to one particular page, where it said "I'm sorry" at the top right corner of the page. He could feel his heart melted a little.

The next page, at the same corner, "I know I really messed up, but..."

 _But...?_  He turned to the next page. No more words, but there was a drawing of a guy, wearing a shirt with "I'm sorry" written across it.  _That's it?_

He turned to the next page out of curiosity.  _Oh?_

Now the guy had something in his hand. It looked like a lid, like a cover of a box, a gift box. Then it dawned on Jiyong as he flipped the pages forward.

_A flipbook._

Jiyong returned to the first page and held the rest of them between his thumb and forefinger. He then slowly released them, revealing the dodgy animation as the pages fanned forward.

The guy was indeed holding a box lid. And Jiyong figured that that guy was actually standing  _in_  a box when he sat himself in it and covered it with the lid. Another guy with the widest grin across his face appeared and accepted the box that had the first guy inside as a gift. A heart-shaped word bubbled up above the box with a message that said, "I'm yours forever."

Jiyong couldn't help the smile. He replayed it again and again and again.

_So, you're saying that you're sorry. And you know that you really messed up, but you're mine forever?_

Jiyong's heart melted entirely, sizzling like butter on a hot pan.

 

"Have you tried talking to him?" Zen asked the next day. He and Seunghyun were at their favorite table in the library, the one in the farthest corner, which was completely hidden by the towering shelves but offered the view of the entire open space. Like a fort. They even called it 'The Fort'. They loved it here, especially when they talked a little too loud, while discussing calculus or the stupid open ended movie they watched the night before, they knew the fort would spare them from annoyed glares and 'shhh'.

Sitting across each other, they had their feet raised up onto the chairs opposite them. Zen, a book and a highlighter in his hands and a spread of foolscap papers in front of him. Seunghyun, also a spread of foolscap papers in front of him but in his hands, was his phone.

"Well, you said to give him space, so I am giving him space." Seunghyun retorted without looking up at his roommate. His attention was on his phone, fumbling with who knows what.

"Obviously I didn't realize that I was gonna be the middle man when I said that. Just go and talk to him.”

“I do talk to him. When-“

“Talk through what? Texts? Grow a pair, dude. Just go walk right up to him. I mean, he's  _there._ "

Seunghyun clicked his tongue as Zen gestured towards the open space; rows of tables arranged in a boring classroom layout. Some tables were unoccupied; some were occupied by stacks of books left unattended, and the rest claimed by at least one student each. Some were immersed in their notes and books, some had earbuds plugged in their ears, shutting out the world with music from their iPods, and even some who had nothing better to do than gossiping.

And then there was one sitting at the table all the way across the room from the fort; head propped on one hand, arm folded by the elbow, while the other hand spun a pen around its bony fingers. He was probably bouncing his legs from the way his head lightly nodded as he stared down at the textbook splayed open in front of him. His eyebrows furrowed after a while; most probably confused by whatever he just read from the book. If they were close enough, they would hear the frustrated gush of breath that he let out as he sat up, letting go of the pen with an angry thud against the tabletop.

Jiyong raised his arms above his head to stretch and he rolled his neck. He heaved another heavy sigh as he slumped back down, staring blankly at his textbook. He tapped on his phone to check the time and decided it was time to go. So he gathered everything; notes, textbooks and all, and was about to stuff everything into his backpack when his phone buzzed.

Back at the fort, Seunghyun muttered, nudging his roommate with his toes. "Watch.."

Zen glanced over at Jiyong who sat back down into his seat, tapping on his phone screen.

"What am I watching?"

Seunghyun clicked his tongue. "Give it a moment. Just..watch."

So Zen did just that, ignoring the smug on Seunghyun's face and his widened smirk when he noticed Jiyong began to smile, and maybe laughed a little, pressing the back of his hand against his flushed cheeks.

 _He liked it._ Seunghyun felt relieved.

"What did you send to him?"

"That, my friend, is not something you have to be concerned about. I've got tricks up my sleeves."

Zen snorted, rolling his eyes.  _"Tricks up my sleeves."_  He mocked. "You wouldn't have gotten into this mess if you had  _tricks up your sleeves."_

"Shut up."

Seunghyun kept his eyes on Jiyong, appraising his reaction. He knew this would be it. It has been three days since they last spoke to each other or seen each other. And not on good terms either. Jiyong must've missed him, right? How long should they go on like this?

And the tiny voices in his head returned.  _He's done with you. He's moved on. He's happier now. He wants nothing to do with you._

 _NO._  Seunghyun snapped out of his thoughts. He took his phone and typed out another text.

_"I knew you would love that one."_

Jiyong paused mid-step and as if knowing exactly where Seunghyun was, his head snapped up right towards the fort. Of course he's been in the fort more than a few times in the past four months he's been with Seunghyun. They even made out a quite number of times in there. It was only natural for him to assume that Seunghyun was there. His eyes widened; surprised as much as embarrassed knowing that Seunghyun might have caught him smiling and melting over the text earlier.

Their eyes locked and for a while, it was a staring contest between him and Seunghyun.

 _Am I still mad?_  Jiyong asked himself. The question went round and round in his head before he looked away and continued walking.  _Maybe a little bit._

Seunghyun refused to give up this time. He swore he saw longing in Jiyong's eyes just now. So he quickly gathered his stuff, startling his roommate in the process.

"Zen, come on, let's go! Let's go. We're leaving."

 

**********

 


	11. Jealous

 

Seunghyun scrambled up from his chair and left the Fort; not caring if Zen was tailing behind him or not. He was not gonna let this chance slip away just like that. He just saw Jiyong walk past through the main entrance, so he quickened his steps, and after almost tumbling over a few times from bumping into several students walking into the library, gaining a few curses, Seunghyun finally made it out of the building as well. Through his heavy breathing, he called out.

"Jiyong!" It was loud enough for someone who was standing at the end of the foyer, let alone Jiyong who was just ten or maybe twenty steps away from him. But of course, Jiyong played deaf.

Seunghyun groaned at the stubbornness and called out again; skipping a few steps to reach him quicker. "Jiyong! Come on, I know you can hear me!"

It seemed like Jiyong quickened his steps as much as Seunghyun did. It was getting frustrating. And embarrassing, too, as Seunghyun could feel pairs of eyes on him as he chased after his stubborn, hot-headed boyfriend in the middle of the campus.  _Boyfriend_. For a moment, a part of Seunghyun's brain blamed himself for getting into this mess when he was not a hundred percent ready. But then, the other part of his brain smacked him right in the guts and yelled at him,  _"This is Jiyong, for God's sakes!"_. Seunghyun, groaned again. He couldn't agree more with the second part of the brain; he wouldn't give Jiyong up for the world.

Seunghyun snapped out of his thoughts when he heard someone called his name, causing his steps to falter. He looked up at Jiyong; his heart skipped a beat because he was hopeful that maybe Jiyong was the one who called him. Sadly, it wasn't. The sulky pink-haired boy was still stomping away without even glancing back at him. Then he heard it again. It was definitely not Jiyong because it came from somewhere behind him. He was about to turn around to face the source when it materialized in front of him and stopped him altogether.

"God, Seunghyun! I'm out of breath here!" Jin blurted out in a huff of breath, holding on to Seunghyun's arm.

His eyes widened in shock and a few moments passed before he pulled his arm free from Jin's grip.  _"He's up to no good"._  Zen's voice reminding him about this particular person the other night rang in his ears. "What the hell are you doing?" Seunghyun snarled and walked away, resuming in his steps to get to Jiyong. He was grateful that Jiyong didn't turn around and saw this.

Jin tried to snatch his arm back but missed. So he followed Seunghyun in little jogs "Well, what the hell are _you_ doing?"

Seunghyun gritted his teeth. "What does it look like I'm doing to you?" He quickened his pace.

But Jin followed followed him with blatant confidence. "You're not going after  _him_ , do you?"

 _Is he stupid?_  And Seunghyun almost wanted to stop and ask what Jin meant by "him" but decided not to because he knew that conversation would not end on a good note. "Jiyong, stop!" Seunghyun called out, ignoring the relentless whines of the shameless narcissist.

To his surprise and relief, Jiyong stopped and turned around. But now Seunghyun was also regretting it because he could clearly see the change in Jiyong's face when he saw Jin; from annoyed to furious.

 _This is not good._  So Seunghyun sprinted over to him, with Jin annoyingly still tailing behind, and caught Jiyong's hand before he could manage to escape again.

Jiyong twisted and huffed, trying to free himself but Seunghyun just pulled him closer and he ended up pressed against Seunghyun's chest.

"There's no need to rub it in my face!" Jiyong hissed through his gritted teeth, glaring into Seunghyun's eyes. He tried to pull his hand out of Seunghyun's grip but cursed at how much stronger Seunghyun was than him.

"It's not what it looks like!" Seunghyun hissed back.

"Yeah, right. Was he in the Fort just now?"

Seunghyun frowned. Jiyong was jealous. "No, he was not." Seunghyun was afraid that he would hurt Jiyong from holding him too tight but he was not gonna let this chance slip. "Can you just stop struggling because I'm not letting you go now and I don't wanna hurt you."

Jin finally walked up to them and Jiyong really didn't want to be there. So he tried freeing himself again but his wrist was locked around Seunghyun's death grip. Huffing in anger, he gave in and let Seunghyun hold him while whatever the drama was unfolded before him.

Before Jin could say anything, Seunghyun started. "Jin, please. Just stop. Zen told me everything. It's not gonna work out."

Jiyong let out an annoyed grunt and tried freeing himself again.

Seunghyun clicked his tongue and pulled Jiyong back. "Will you cut it out?!"

"I don't want to be here so don't tell me what to do!"

"Jiyong, stop struggling!"

"Let him go, Seunghyun. He's not needed here anyway."

Jiyong's eyes snapped up towards Jin.  _Well, maybe I should stay just to piss you off then._

"No, he's staying." Seunghyun said firmly. "If you have anything to say, say it now and then leave us alone."

Jin shrugged. "Well, sure. If you insist, that's fine by me." He folded his arms across his chest. His posture reeked of unnecessary confidence that it was almost funny. "I want you back, Seunghyun."

Seunghyun emitted a short bark of laugh. He really did find it hilarious. "Don't you think it's a little over a year too late for that?"

"Well, I'm here now. Let's not think about the past and pick up where we left off. Think about all the memories we had together."

 _This cocky idiot._  "Where we left off, I was a worthless shit you didn't care about. I would do anything in my power not to go back to that again."

"Well, I was wrong. There. I admit it. I'm different now. I've changed. And it'll be different this time, I promise."

Seunghyun scoffed. "He left you, didn't he?" It wasn't hard to guess when it was pretty obvious. "How does _that_ feel? Pretty awesome, huh?" Seunghyun watched as Jin clenched his jaw. "Look, you can't just leave and come back like this, like nothing happened, and expect me to jump right back in. Things have changed for the better and I have moved on long ago. You had your chance, Jin. Now it's not yours anymore."

"Then what about what happened at the bar the other night? Doesn't it mean anything to you?"

 _Say what now?_  Seunghyun could feel the heat and the glare from Jiyong boring holes into his skull. "Nothing. Happened." He gritted, countering Jiyong's silent wrath. He was almost reaching his boiling point now.

"Jin, why are you doing this?" His attention was back on Jin, although a part of his conscious brain was actively aware that Jiyong was close and needed to be close. "Nothing happened between you and me at the bar and you know it. We talked, that's all. I thought you've already moved on like I have. And for all I know, you are with someone else now. I don't understand why you feel the need to make things up and expect me to trust you again and get back together. If I had known your intentions, I would have left the bar when you showed up."

"Then tell me what I should do."

Seunghyun let out a frustrated sigh. "Nothing. Don't do anything. Because it will never happen. Just stop this."

The change in Jin's expression was apparent. "You." He seethed towards Jiyong. "This is all because of you!" He lunged forward and thankfully Seunghyun was quick to pull Jiyong and shield him behind his back.

"Jin!" Seunghyun held him at arms length. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?! Lay one finger on him and see what happens. When will you see that this is all your own fault?! It's not his fault that you left for someone else. You were the one who-"

"He can never replace me!" Jin interjected and Seunghyun wanted to pull his own hair out at Jin's nerves.

"Of course he can't." Seunghyun paused and watched Jin smirked triumphantly, mocking Jiyong. But the smirk died when Seunghyun scoffed and shook his head. He tightened the squeeze on the trembling hand in his. "Because  _he_ belongs here all along. This is  _his_ place. I just took wrong turns and chances before I found him." Seunghyun didn't care if Jin took that as an insult because he partially did mean it as an insult. His indifference was hurting Jiyong and Seunghyun didn't like it.

"You son of a bitch." Jin spat out, to either Seunghyun or Jiyong, or maybe both.

"Vulgar. For someone who walked out on me for a better  _"future"_." Seunghyun mimicked the quotes with his fingers.

"You'll regret this. You will never find someone like me." Jin canted his chin.

"Well, thank God for that!" Seunghyun retorted and Jiyong let out an involuntary scoff.

"You can't do this to me, Seunghyun!"

 _Shocking!_  "As a matter of fact, I can. Compared to what you did to me, this is just the tip of that iceberg." Seunghyun let go of his grip on Jiyong's wrist only to lace their fingers together. "It ends here, Jin. Don't waste your time on this anymore, I beg you. I'm happy with Jiyong now. So please,  _please_ , leave us alone. I have nothing to do with you anymore." With that, he turned around, pulling Jiyong with him, and left Jin wailing like a widow grieving her husband's death.

"Seunghyun! Seunghyun!"

Jin's voice faded out as Seunghyun and Jiyong walked away. He may or may not have thrown something towards the two, but they were already too far for it to reach them. Thank God he didn't decide to follow them again.

"You and I, mister. We need to talk." Seunghyun muttered, not looking at Jiyong and didn't even care if Jiyong would protest. He just led the way to a secluded terrace close to his dorm complex. He let go of Jiyong's hand once they reached the place.

Jiyong soothed his wrist where Seunghyun's grip was with his other hand, encircling his fingers around it and rubbing it gently. It hurt a little.

Seunghyun flinched and took the wrist back into his hand and soothed it himself, hated the fact that the skin has reddened a little bit. "Sorry.."

Jiyong pulled his hand back and folded his arms across his chest. He just stood there, staring at Seunghyun in silence. He watched as Seunghyun ran his fingers through his hair a couple of times before he rested his hands on his hips and stared back at Jiyong.

"Talk to me, Jiyong." He began when Jiyong didn't show any sign of interest to talk at all. "I can't even figure out what to do if you keep everything from me. Talk to me so I can make it right. Ask me those questions I know you have going around in your head." This is it. Seunghyun was ready to lay everything out. He was going to be honest with whatever Jiyong wanted to ask. But first, he needed to find a way to get Jiyong to talk.  _Just stop sulking and talk already._

Jiyong looked away, averted his eyes down to his feet. To be honest, he was already moved by the things Seunghyun said to Jin earlier; about him being the rightful owner of Seunghyun's heart, how steady Seunghyun held his ground on not getting back together with Jin, how strong and firm Seunghyun was holding on to him, and how protective Seunghyun was over him. In a way, it was practically a love confession all over again, and Jiyong's heart soared at that. That was when he stopped trying to free himself from Seunghyun. On the contrary, he wanted Seunghyun to hold on to him just as tightly for the rest of their lives. The confusing fog that has been clouding his mind since that night at the bar seemed to have lifted and he could see clearly now. So he took a deep breath and swallowed hard. He was ready to forgive Seunghyun and take him back.

"Did you mean what you said?" He asked after a while; voice small and dry.

Seunghyun blinked.  _Come on, Seunghyun, you can do this. This is not the time to be stupid._  He raked his mind to remember every single thing he had said to Jiyong since that night up to this moment. But of course, all he could hear in his head was his own voice yelling at himself to remember something,  _anything_. His mouth opened to say something but he couldn't form a word. But his eyes were probably looking back at Jiyong questioningly.  _Which one?_

So, Jiyong clarified. "That night. On the phone."

 _Oh, that one. "I love you, Jiyong. I really do."_  Those words rang in his head and he felt the butterflies in his stomach. But then his heart squeezed at how painful it was when Jiyong didn't say anything back except for a cold "good night". But he couldn't be more relieved than he was right now, because that was the easiest thing for him to clarify, to prove to Jiyong. The squeeze on his heart changed into a warm feeling, spreading out to his whole being. He stepped closer towards Jiyong until the toes of their shoes bumped together. He cupped Jiyong's face with his hands and willed it to face him. Jiyong was looking up at him with hopeful eyes he didn't have the heart to tease even a little. So he held Jiyong's gaze.

"With all my heart."

Jiyong swallowed the lump in his throat, couldn't stop himself from swaying more into Seunghyun's space, nuzzling more into Seunghyun's touch. He didn't want to look away. Because Seunghyun was looking back at him with assurance, with promises, with trust, with love; crushing the hard wall he had built around him.

"Are you gonna let me kiss you or are we just going to stare at each other like this?" Seunghyun spoke up, breaking the silence.

Jiyong huffed a shy smile and pulled his bottom lip between his teeth before he stood on his toes and pressed his lips against Seunghyun's.

"I have missed you so much." Seunghyun stated after they pulled away. He embraced Jiyong in his arms, tightly around his shoulders. "You scared me, Jiyong. Who would've thought that the shy and smiley Kwon Jiyong could turn into a fierce wolf when he's mad."

Jiyong chuckled in Seunghyun's arms. "I can be quite possessive. I don't like people toying with what's mine."

"Yeah, I know that now. And I don't want to go through that ever again. I promise."

  
~~~~~ooo~~~~~

  
_Click._

That sound woke Jiyong up. He frowned and forced his eyes open. Seunghyun froze, pursing his lips and mentally cursing himself for forgetting to set his phone to silent mode. Jiyong turned his head towards a towering shadow which was Seunghyun kneeling next to him.

“Hi.” Seunghyun, with his phone in his hands, greeted him with a grin.

Jiyong’s frown deepened until he figured out what was going on. He groaned and turned his head to bury his face back underneath the comforter, but Seunghyun quickly grabbed his hands and pulled him back.

“What are you doing?” Jiyong groaned again, throwing his hands over his face, but Seunghyun pulled them away.

“You look cute when you sleep.” Seunghyun pinned Jiyong’s hands to the sides of his head. “So I took a picture.” His grin grew wider as Jiyong blushed.

“My puffy face is not cute.” Jiyong craned his head back to look at the radio clock next to the bed.

“Oh it is, you have no idea.” Seunghyun let go of his hands and picked his phone back up and angled it back to Jiyong’s face.

“Seunghyun..” Jiyong whined, shoving him away with one hand and covering his face with the other. “Don’t..”

“What, don’t be shy. I’ve seen everything already.”

Jiyong peeked from under his palm. “And what? Are you going to take pictures of my dick too?”

“Oh! Can I?!” Seunghyun yelped playfully, trying to yank the comforter off.

“WHAT? NO!” Jiyong shrieked, pressing both his hands down, curling and wrapping himself with the comforter tighter, to keep his naked body from being exposed. His yelps and giggles and Seunghyun’s teasing pleas echoed around the room.

“Seunghyun, stop!” Jiyong laughed harder. “Okay, fine. Fine!”

Seunghyun stopped and played dumb. “So I can take pictures of your dick?”

"No!" Jiyong batted his arm playfully. “No dick. Just the face.” So he angled his face to its side and glanced sideway right into the camera seductively.

Seunghyun smirked and bit his lower lip, snapping the precious sight. He looked at it for a second before tossing the phone somewhere to his side and slid back under the comforter. Jiyong welcomed him with arms wrapped around his shoulders. Seunghyun hovered above Jiyong, pressing their hips together. He loved it when Jiyong shifted and hiked one leg behind his waist and held him in place. And he loved it even more when Jiyong emitted soft grunts when he ground their morning hardness together.

"Seunghyun.." Jiyong breathed out. He was in heaven.

Seunghyun hummed, leaning down and captured Jiyong's lips in a languid kiss; slow and passionate. The kiss then trailed down to Jiyong's chin and even lower to his collarbones. "You don't have reasons to be jealous anymore, Jiyong." He mumbled against the fragile patch of skin he found there, capturing it between his teeth and sucked gently.

"Are you kidding me?" Jiyong grabbed a handful of Seunghyun's hair and yanked it away, lifting Seunghyun's head with the force. Seunghyun let out an exaggerated cry of pain into Jiyong's opened mouth. "You thought wrong, mister. Now that I am... _claimed_ , I'm only gonna get even more jealous from now on."

"So I am doomed?" Seunghyun teased, darting his tongue out to lick Jiyong's upper lip.

"You've been warned," Jiyong hiked his leg even higher and rolled them over, pinning Seunghyun by his waist.

"Whoa, don't hurt yourself, baby."

Jiyong grinned. He took Seunghyun's hand and pulled them over Seunghyun's head as he leaned down and kissed Seunghyun for the umpteenth time that morning. He relished the low growl in Seunghyun's throat when he rocked his hip and ground down onto Seunghyun's dick. He was going to do it again when he heard jingles of keys at the door. He released the kiss and paused, still looming over Seunghyun, still pressing both of the man's hands into the mattress.

"What?" Seunghyun was dazed and confused.  _Why did Jiyong stop?_

"Shhh!" 

"What?"

"Someone's at the door. I think it's Zen." Jiyong whispered.

Right on cue the door opened and Zen walked in. Jiyong didn't know how it happened, but the next second, he was already hidden under the comforter and Seunghyun lied on his side, hiding him with his back.

Zen, who looked worn out and tired, didn't even notice the ruckus. "Hey man," he greeted through his yawn, not paying attention to Seunghyun's situation. He walked straight for his bed.

"Heyyy, Zen..where have you been?" Seunghyun stifled a giggle and a whimper when he felt Jiyong squirmed, pressing against him even closer.

"I crashed at Dean's last night. Thought you might need some time to talk it over with Jiyong. So.." Zen threw himself on his bed and sigh blissfully. He was just gonna sleep in today, compensating the super uncomfortable night he had sleeping on the floor of Dean's dorm.

Seunghyun cleared his throat. "Umm, Zen. Can you-- can you excuse us for a second?"

"Dude, my back hurts, my whole body hurts. I slept on the floor last night. Have some mercy on me and just let me have this, okay?"

"Zen, Jiyong's here."

"Hey, Jiyong." And Jiyong greeted him back from under the comforter. "Well, aren't you lucky Seunghyun let you sleep in his bed? The floor was hard and Dean, that little shit, didn't even give me a blanket or anything to sleep on." He retorted with voice muffled against his fluffy pillows.

 _When will he get it? Ughhh._  "Zen, please. Excuse us for just a minute." He could feel Jiyong giggling against his back, rocking both of their bodies.

"Seunghyun, come on. I am not-"

"Zen, we're naked here!" Finally, Seunghyun blurted the fact out. And the silence that followed was awkward and embarrassing. After a moment, he could hear the sound of sheets shuffling and a pair of feet planted onto the floorboard.

"I AM SORRY. Wow. I didn't realize. I was so tired. Jiyong, I am sorry. I'm just gonna-" Zen grabbed his keys. "Dude, I'm sorry. I'll just go and grab some coffee so you guys can- Well, I'll get coffee for both of you too."

"Sorry, Zen!" Jiyong peeked out of the comforter.

"Nononononono, I'm the one who's sorry. I should've known that this- Well, I should go. I'll be back with the coffee. Or not. Yeah, I-"

"Dude, stop." Seunghyun laughed. "You're rambling like an idiot. Please, come back with the coffee; we could use some. Thanks."

"Right. Okay, I'll get going. See you guys later. I'll lock the door and I'll knock later. So..yeah.." And with that Zen was out the door, leaving Seunghyun and Jiyong looking at each other before bursting into a fit of laughter.

Jiyong looked so adorably disheveled Seunghyun just consumed his laughter with a kiss again. "Well, if he is going to get coffee, it's gonna take him at least half an hour to get back."

"Uhuh," Jiyong bit his lower lip, a failed attempt to tame his stupid grin. "What do you have in mind, Choi Seunghyun?"

Seunghyun moved then, insinuating himself in between Jiyong's legs with one arm wrapped around Jiyong's back. He pressed his palm flat against the small of Jiyong's back, raising the slender waist a fraction higher, and he brushed a kiss just above the cute belly button, causing Jiyong to arch his back even more.

"You know what I have in my mind, don't you, Kwon Jiyong?" Seunghyun breathed out against Jiyong's sternum. His hand trailed down lower and lower until his fingers slipped between the cheeks and brushed against the soft skin of Jiyong's perineum.

Jiyong's breath hitched. "Yes, I do." He choked out.

"Another round?" Seunghyun asked against the side of Jiyong's neck. Two of his fingers were already well inside; crooking and probing.

Jiyong pulled Seunghyun's face up and coaxed him into another time-stopping kiss, subconsciously rocking down onto Seunghyun's fingers. He pulled away with an obscene pop of his lips. "Yes, please."

An order that Seunghyun was just eager to fulfill so he gave it all.

 

**********

 


	12. Sealing It with a Kiss

 

Seunghyun picked up his glass of Champagne in one hand and a fork in the other. Slowly and hesitantly he stood up. He then clinked the two items together a few times and the whole floor quieted down and turned towards him. Seunghyun gulped. He thought maybe this was a bad idea now that everyone was looking at him expectantly. Even Jiyong who was sitting next to him, talking to one of his friends, turned around with a look of surprise. Too late to back down now.

"Umm.." Seunghyun gulped again, "I- I wanna say something?" He raised the glass in his hand a little. "Like a- like a toast?" Seunghyun gazed around his audience as they took their own Champagne glasses and turn their attention back on him. The audio boy handed him a mic and he took it absent-mindedly, gripping his fingers tightly around it.  _Great. Now I'm gonna embarrass myself on amplifiers._

He didn't notice that he had been standing there like a mannequin until Jiyong nudged him gently.

"Oh, right. Yeah, I'd like to, umm, just-" Seunghyun cleared his throat. "I feel so happy and grateful today, to be surrounded by good people, friends and family, the people I've cherished my whole life. This is how I imagined it would be, it  _should_  be, when I think about this day. I wouldn't have it any other way."

His eyes skimmed around the enclosure and landed on his parents sitting at the table right in front of his; his mom, teary eyed, wrapped in his father's arms, cheeks pressed against each other's. "To the people I love the most; mom, dad," he tipped his glass towards the couple, "I'm not--" Seunghyun paused to breathe, "I'm not very good with words."

"Well tell me about it," Jiyong cut in, teasing his husband, gaining laughter from the crowd.

Seunghyun laughed too. He puckered his lips into a pout, looking down at Jiyong who was beaming at him with a blinding smile.

"I'm sorry. Keep going." Jiyong apologized with traces of laughter in his words.

"So okay," Seunghyun inhaled deeply, "mom and dad. As you know, I'm not that good with words," he glanced at Jiyong again and the younger chuckled, and he turned back to his parents. "I've ran out of ways and words to show you, to  _tell_  you how grateful I am to have you as parents. I know I should've opened up more, I know I should've done a lot of things, I know I should've  _said_  a lot of things. I'm sorry I drive you guys crazy sometimes."

He paused to take a breath. "But you never made me do anything that I didn't want to. Instead, you become the support, become the pillar, making sure that I would achieve what I've set to achieve. I can't be grateful enough of how understanding and supportive both of you have been, are, and I know will always be, of whatever I decided to do in my life. Including this one." Another brief glance towards Jiyong and back to his parents.

"I hope you know how much I love you and both of you are the greatest loves of my life."

He turned to Jiyong yet again. "Babe, I know I said the same thing to you but-"

Jiyong laughed and the guests laughed along. "Yeah, I know. I know. I got you." He beamed at Seunghyun.

"And to my 'new' parents, Mr. And Mrs. Kwon, and lovely sister, Dami." He raised the glass to them, "I can't say how grateful I am of you for accepting me into your wonderful family and for letting me share this wonderful gift with you."

Jiyong blushed so hard, muttering Seunghyun's name under his breath.

"I promise to cherish him for the rest of my life and to love him as much as you do, if not more." He raised his glass again as Mrs. Kwon blew him a kiss with tears pooling in her eyes.

"Wrap up and tell us the story already!" Someone amongst the guests yelled out.

"Who was that?" Seunghyun asked, his eyes searched around and paused when one man bravely threw a hand up. "Zen!" Seunghyun laughed. "Zen. My best buddy, my best man, my brother. I know how smug you feel right now that Jiyong and I ended up here today. But, I gotta admit that I am so glad that five years ago, you knew me so well and recognized Jiyong as the type of person that I would fall for. You're right, man. You are right right now, you were right back then. This wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for you. So, thank you, buddy." He raised his glass, and Zen raised his. "Oh and ladies, he's single. That's the least I can do to pay you back, Zen."

"Hey!" Zen chided as the guests laughed at him and Seunghyun. "Just shut up and tell us the story."

"What story? I don't know what you're talking about." Seunghyun was confused. He really didn't know what or which story that Zen was asking about.

"The proposal story. How did it happen?" Zen cocked an eyebrow. He knew the story - every detail of it - but he was just enjoying awkward and flustered Seunghyun in front of a hundred of people too much.

"Zen, no way."

"Oh, come on!" Zen didn't give up.

"Yeah, tell us the story!" Someone else agreed with the suggestion. Seunghyun wasn't sure who but it was probably one of his cousins. But one thing he knew for sure, Jiyong was already laughing.

"A toast is supposed to be short and-"

"Pffft, who cares. We have all afternoon. Come on tell us." Zen cut him off, teasing him with a smirk.

Seunghyun turned to Jiyong, asking for his help. But from the way Jiyong was smiling, he knew there was no way out. So he took a breath, and sighed.

"Okay, fine." He glanced at Jiyong. "It was three years ago."

" _Three?_ " Jiyong eyebrows disappeared under his bangs.

"Jiyong, you know this. It was actually three not two. Well, kind of. Because I actually proposed to you first and we only started planning the wedding a year after that, after you- well never mind." Seunghyun blurted out his defense, with the mic in front of his mouth for all to hear, gaining chuckles all around. It was always like that. Whenever they told the story, Seunghyun would go with three years, and Jiyong would go with two. "You can tell your own story. This is mine." Jiyong laughed his heart out at that.

"So, okay.  _Three_  years ago, I think we had a fight. I couldn't remember what it was about, but Jiyong could get mad because of one of two reasons." Seunghyun said, holding two fingers up. At this, Jiyong pulled Seunghyun's arm, the one that was holding the mic, to stop him from revealing his secret, but Seunghyun chuckled and pulled his arm back. "One, if I did something wrong, or two, he didn't get things his way. Oh, now that I've said that out loud, I might have done something wrong that caused him not to get something his way. BIG MISTAKE. Because I remember we didn't talk for two days. TWO DAYS."

Jiyong buried his flushed face in his hands, embarrassed from the guests laughing at the introduction of Seunghyun's proposal story.

"I'm sorry, babe. It's part of the story." He patted Jiyong's back teasingly and Jiyong looked up at him with a mock glare.

"So, yeah. Two days." Seunghyun continued. "So, on the third day, I couldn't take it anymore and I went to find him. I woke up early to catch him at a coffee shop that he used to go after his morning run during our college days."

 

_**[FLASHBACK]** _

 

Seunghyun walked into the coffee shop and his eyes naturally drawn to Jiyong's usual spot and found him there. Before he walked over, he ordered an on-the-go for himself and paid for Jiyong's coffee. He took a sip and walked up to the booth by the window where Jiyong was sitting. He noticed the slight pout on Jiyong's lips as he stared down into the cup of coffee nestling in his hands. He scoffed internally.

“I’ve paid for your coffee,” Seunghyun announced his presence, standing by the edge of the table, one hand tucked in his pants pocket.

Jiyong blinked up at him, startled. He studied the man's face, trying to gauge his expression. _Is he okay? Is he still mad? Am I in trouble? Of course I’m in trouble._

“Take a walk with me."

"Okay.." Jiyong croaked and didn't get to say anything else as Seunghyun has already moved to leave the booth. So he took his cup and tailed behind like a loyal puppy.  _Here we go._

They walked in silence to the nearby park. Jiyong thought of starting a conversation while they were walking, but Seunghyun maintained his pace one step ahead of Jiyong, so he decided to just wait for the right moment.

By the time they reached a nice tree shade by the lake, Seunghyun had managed to finish his beverage and discarded his cup into a nearby bin.

"Are you gonna see him again?" Seunghyun eventually asked. With both hands tucked in his pants pockets, he didn't even glance at Jiyong. His eyes were mindlessly watching a swan swiftly drifting across the lake's calm water.

As it turned out, Seunghyun was mad that Jiyong's ex-boyfriend showed up out of nowhere and despite Seunghyun's protest, Jiyong went to have a drink with the guy. Although Jiyong insisted that he accepted the offer as a friend and nothing more, Seunghyun couldn't care less and hung up the phone, telling Jiyong to do whatever the hell he wanted with his life, before Jiyong could even explain himself. Jiyong went anyway, which caused Seunghyun to sulk and avoided Jiyong's phone calls and didn't reply any of his texts for days. The whole thing was a freaking drama.

The way Seunghyun reacted to the situation hurt Jiyong a little. It was like Seunghyun didn't trust him at all. Out of respect, he had told Seunghyun that the ex-boyfriend had invited him out for a drink. To be honest, he didn't really want to go, but before he could say more, Seunghyun flipped. He would've declined the invite if Seunghyun had asked him nicely instead of throwing a fit. However, thinking about it now, Jiyong thought he probably went out with the guy out of rebellion. Seunghyun told him to do whatever he wanted with his life, so _whatever_. Jiyong caught himself comparing the guy to Seunghyun during their meeting; Seunghyun was funnier, Seunghyun was smarter, Seunghyun was charmingly awkward, and Seunghyun was so much easier on the eyes too. So he decided that Seunghyun had raised his expectations in relationships and that Seunghyun had ruined other guys for him. No way in heaven and earth would Jiyong ever want anyone else other than Seunghyun anymore. Additionally, Jiyong also realized that Seunghyun was just jealous and was pretty blunt at showing it. Jiyong thought it was immature, yes, but kinda cute too.

Jiyong shook his head, looking down at his feet. "No, not intentionally."

Seunghyun turned and rounded on Jiyong, startling him. "What do you mean 'not intentionally'?"

Jiyong blinked. "We- well h-he kinda lives in the same city now. I might run into him sometimes. And he's also-"

"No. I don't want you to see him again." Seunghyun crossed his arms firmly across his chest. "I don't care if he's living in the same neighborhood, I don't want you to see him ever again."

Jiyong was amused by Seunghyun's reaction which rendered him speechless. Seunghyun was being ridiculous but Jiyong understand where he was coming from. So he said, "Okay, I won't see him again. I promise."

Seunghyun didn't say anything to that; he just stared down at Jiyong. He was probably satisfied with what Jiyong just said.

"I  _promise_. I won't see him again." Jiyong restated, grabbing at Seunghyun's arms as the older tried to look away. Jiyong looked at Seunghyun straight in the eyes, pleading the man to believe his words. He just wanted Seunghyun to stop sulking because seriously, a sulking Seunghyun was tiresome. He was beginning to think that Seunghyun came to see him today just to throw another fit.

So Jiyong inhaled deeply. "Look. I didn't really want to go, you know. But-"

"But you did."

"Yes, I did because  _you_  were being childish."

" _I_  was being childish?" Seunghyun's eyes widened in disbelieve. How dare Jiyong accused him of being childish.

"Yes, you." Jiyong folded his arms. "And you didn't let me explain and just assumed the worst."

" _Explain."_  Seunghyun scoffed. "What was there to explain? You went out with your ex-boyfriend. End of story."

Jiyong almost spat out about what happened between them with Jin a couple of years ago but he held himself back; nothing good would come out of this if they revisit that particularly hurtful history. So he took another deep breath, shaking the bad thoughts off, clearing his mind.

"I went to see him as a friend. We broke up _centuries_  ago, on good terms, and we remained as friends. Seunghyun, you know this."

Seunghyun kept quiet with an unamused expression on his face. He just looked back into Jiyong's eyes and didn't say anything.

"I told him about you."

Seunghyun's angry eyes softened a little bit at that.

"Although I might have unintentionally left out a little detail when I told you about him before."

Seunghyun narrowed his eyes.

"It's not important, really. It's just that-"

"Just spit it out."

Jiyong let out a nervous breath. "He's, umm.. he's- well, my father has a friend, a close friend, whom he works with at the company. He is the son of this friend of my father's." Jiyong couldn't tell if Seunghyun understood what he just said because he was not sure if he understood it himself.

"What?" Seunghyun didn't get it.

"He's a.. he's a family friend. Our families have known each other for a long time."

"A  _FAMILY FRIEND?_ " Seunghyun scrubbed his face with his palms. He was agitated by this new revelation. "Are you saying that if we got married, I'm gonna have to bear with this guy being around you probably on regular basis like on holidays or public events, because he's a _family friend?_ "

Jiyong was stunned and dazed. He couldn't hear anything else past the 'M' word. "Married? If  _we_  got married?" He stuttered.

Seunghyun blinked.  _What did I just say?_

"Seunghyun, what are you saying?"

Seunghyun's gaze wavered. He looked away from Jiyong's searching eyes. He tried to say something but all words were jumbled up into a lump in his throat.

“Are you..? Is this..? Seunghyun. Are you gonna ask me the question that I would say ‘yes’ as an answer?”

Seunghyun eyes were back on Jiyong's instantly. “You would say yes?”

“Well.. Umm..” Jiyong rocked on the balls of his feet. “I think- I think it’s too soon. But, someday, who knows, when the time is right, I might say ‘yes’.” Jiyong smiled shyly.

Seunghyun pulled Jiyong into his arms. All jealousy forgotten. “That’s good enough for me. I would ignore everything about this guy if you would say 'yes'.”

Jiyong chuckled as he stumbled into the embrace, pressing his cheek against Seunghyun’s chest. “I said I  _might_  say ‘yes’.”

“I don’t care. I’m gonna make sure that you  _will_ say ‘yes’.”

Jiyong snuggled closer, snaking his arms around Seunghyun’s back. A relieved smile curved across his lips.

“But, I think I’m just gonna try my luck now. Here.” Seunghyun peeled away from the embrace and got down on one knee.

Jiyong eyes widened. “NO. What are you doing? Get up before people see us. Seunghyun! Get up!” He instinctively pulled his hoodie over his head and scrambled down to stop Seunghyun from whatever he was doing.

But to Jiyong’s surprise, Seunghyun was thrown into a fit of laughter. “You should’ve seen your face!”

“Huh? What?” Jiyong got it then. “You jerk!" He shoved Seunghyun’s shoulders, throwing the man onto the ground. Jiyong stood up and turned around, leaving Seunghyun still bubbling with laughter.

“Hey, wait for me!” Seunghyun pulled himself up and caught up with Jiyong in little jogs. “Hey..” he reached for Jiyong’s hand and turned him around.

“That was not funny.” Jiyong spat.

“I know, I’m sorry.” Seunghyun played with the strings hanging from Jiyong’s hoodie, “But, maybe a little?” He scrunched his nose up, gesturing a narrow pinch with his thumb and index finger. “No?”

Jiyong darted a glare.

“Okay, no. I’m sorry. It was not funny at all.” Seunghyun dropped his smile, pressing his lips together to hide a grin, raising both hands in the air. “But I’m not sorry for this..” Seunghyun pulled out something from his jacket; a small black box.

Jiyong blinked, eyes fixed on the velvet surface of the box in Seunghyun’s hand. It could be anything in that box. But Jiyong’s heart raced like crazy as his eyes graced upon the golden crest of the jewelry brand engraved on top of the cover.

“This..” Jiyong couldn’t form a sentence.

“This is for you,” Seunghyun helped him out, reaching for Jiyong’s hand and slid the box onto his palm. “Open it.”

Jiyong, who is still unable to give any reaction other than a stoic expression, didn’t move a muscle. Seunghyun huffed a soft chuckle and pulled the box cover open.

“I thought I said-” Jiyong trailed off looking at the platinum band sitting in the box.

“This isn’t the question. Yet.” Seunghyun took out the ring and took Jiyong’s other hand, “This is just a..token,” and he slid the ring onto the ring finger.

“A  _token?_  Classy.” Jiyong chuckled, looking up from admiring how the slick metal complement his pale fingers.

“No, not a token. It’s a.. Hell, I don’t know what to call it, Jiyong. A promise? A reminder?”

“A  _reminder?_  What am I? A calendar?”

“A promise that I’m yours and a reminder that you are mine .”

Jiyong smiled, eyes glimmering. “A promise and a reminder it is.”

“I guess I should get one for you, too. You can’t tie me down like this when you can walk around, bare-fingered, hitting on everybody.”

Seunghyun smiled. “I already got mine,” he waved his left hand and Jiyong caught the hand to look closer. “I’ve been wearing it all this while. I thought you’ve noticed. Look,” Seunghyun continued, turning the ring around his finger. “This one says ‘Jiyong’.”

Jiyong froze for a moment before he dropped Seunghyun’s hands and took a closer look at his own ring. Sure enough, engraved on the slick surface, in such elegant font, ‘Seunghyun’.

“Wear it well,” Seunghyun muttered and pressed a kiss against Jiyong's forehead.

Jiyong just lunged forward and wrapped his arms around Seunghyun’s neck, almost knocking him down. “You are so cheesy you make sick.” Jiyong mumbled into the crook of Seunghyun's neck.

Seunghyun laughed again. “I thought you like cheese.”

“I do and I can’t get enough of this one.” Jiyong pulled away far enough to press his forehead against Seunghyun’s. He bit down his lip, grinning meaningfully.

“Oh, this is the finest cheese you’ll ever have.” Seunghyun winked and tilted his head to seal their lips together.

Jiyong welcomed the kiss with a smile and a blissful sigh. But the kiss was brief. Seunghyun pulled away with a worried expression, tainted by a faint smirk.

“Shouldn’t we stop before people see us?” Seunghyun cocked an eyebrow.

“I’m petite enough for people to think you’re kissing a girl.” Jiyong leaned forward for a kiss again, but Seunghyun pulled away even farther.

“Then it shouldn’t be a problem if I still wanna try this,” Seunghyun stepped back and got on his knee again.

“DON’T!”

“Kwon Jiyong,” Seunghyun begins, trying hard to conceal his laughter.

“No! I’m not indulging you with this! I’m out of here!” Jiyong turned around and walked away.

“Hey, you can’t leave me hanging like this!” Seunghyun called out.

Jiyong waved a hand without looking back. But he shrieked in giggles and his steps quickened into a sprint when he looked over his shoulder and saw Seunghyun was already on his feet, chasing after him.

Then it was a year after that, at a family Thanksgiving dinner, overwhelmed with love and warmth from the big family, Jiyong blurted out at the dinner table. "Seunghyun, let's get married."

Everyone went still and quiet for a moment too long before Seunghyun yelled out a 'yes' and pulled Jiyong into a hug. Seunghyun had never said 'yes' louder than he did that day. Only then, the rest of the family got back into motion, took turn congratulating and hugging the lovebirds and hugging each other. It was a meaningful Thanksgiving for both the Chois and the Kwons that year.

 

_**[END OF FLASHBACK]** _

 

"And here we are, two years later." Seunghyun turned and looked at Jiyong, marveling at the glistening brown eyes. But he wasn't finished yet. "That's why it's always an argument whether it was two or three years back. Obviously I proposed first, but Jiyong always insists that it was him. In the end we agreed to stick to our own version of the story." Seunghyun gained another round of laughter for that, and a playful smack on the side of his thigh from Jiyong.

"So, Jiyong." Seunghyun offered a hand to him and pulled him up from his seat when he took it. "Kwon Jiyong. For better, for worse. For richer, for poorer. In sickness and in health. Until death do us part?" He repeated the words they vowed to each other at the altar earlier.

Jiyong looked back straight into Seunghyun's eyes. His heart thumped so hard against his ribcage and he squeezed Seunghyun's hand as he nodded, muttering in a whisper, "Until death do us part."

Seunghyun then wrapped one arm around Jiyong and continued to end his toast. "It started with a kiss," he paused and looked back at Jiyong. He raised his glass for the last time, and kissed Jiyong briefly; smiles and giggles muffled against each others lips.

"And I'm sealing it with a kiss." Seunghyun continued, eyes never leaving Jiyong's.

"Sealing it with a kiss!" The guests hailed and raised their own Champagne glasses before taking a sip of the drink.

It was the beginning of forever.

********** 

 

END.

 


End file.
